January 2015 Greek legislative election

January 2015 Greek legislative election

← June 2012 25 January 2015 September 2015 →
All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 151 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	9,949,684
Turnout	63.62% (1.13pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alexis Tsipras Antonis Samaras Nikolaos Michaloliakos Party Syriza ND ΧΑ Last election 26.89%, 71 seats 29.66%, 129 seats 6.92%, 18 seats Seats won 149 76 17 Seat change 78 53 1 Popular vote 2,245,978 1,718,694 388,387 Percentage 36.34% 27.81% 6.28% Swing 9.45pp 1.85pp 0.64pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Stavros Theodorakis Dimitris Koutsoumpas Panos Kammenos Party To Potami KKE ANEL Last election – 4.50%, 12 seats 7.51%, 20 seats Seats won 17 15 13 Seat change New 3 7 Popular vote 373,924 338,188 293,683 Percentage 6.05% 5.47% 4.75% Swing New 0.97pp 2.76pp   Seventh party   Leader Evangelos Venizelos Party PASOK Last election 12.28%, 33 seats Seats won 13 Seat change 20 Popular vote 289,469 Percentage 4.68% Swing 7.60pp
Most-voted for party by electoral district
Prime Minister before election Antonis Samaras ND Prime Minister after election Alexis Tsipras Coalition of the Radical Left

Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday 25 January 2015 to elect all 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament in accordance with the constitution. The election was held earlier than scheduled due to the failure of the Greek parliament to elect a new president on 29 December 2014.^[1]

Syriza won a legislative election for the first time, winning 36% of votes and 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority. The centre-right New Democracy (ND), the outgoing party of government, saw only a small decline from 30% to 28%, but in falling to second place suffered its worst showing to date in terms of seats. Five other parties passed the 3% electoral threshold to gain representation, all winning 5–6% of votes: the far-right Golden Dawn (XA), social-liberal To Potami, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), right-wing populist Independent Greeks (ANEL), and centre-left PASOK. XA became the third largest party for the first time, while Potami debuted in fourth place. Formerly one of Greece's two major parties, PASOK collapsed even further to become the smallest party in Parliament, winning just 4.7% of votes and 13 seats.^[2]

Syriza was in a clear position to lead a new government, winning close to a majority thanks to the majority bonus system. Though they had been expected to seek an agreement with Potami,^[3] Syriza instead formed a coalition with the right-wing, anti-austerity ANEL on September 26.^[4] Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras subsequently became Prime Minister.