Newly elected members of the Greek parliament were sworn in on Monday, July 3, 2023.
The 300 Members of Parliament were inducted during a religious ceremony with President of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou in attendance.
The swearing in ceremony came just over a week after the June 25 general election that brought Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis back to power for a second four-year term in a landslide victory
Mitsotakis’ New Democracy(ND) party now holds a comfortable parliamentary majority, with 158 seats compared to left-wing opposition ’s 48.
The election also saw a number of smaller fringe parties from the right and left of the political spectrum win parliamentary seats for the first time.
Three far-right parties and one representing the far left reached the 3% minimum threshold for parliamentary seats. Only one of them has been in Parliament before.
On the right of the political spectrum, two newly-appearing parties are the Spartans and the ultra-religious Niki party.
The Spartans, led by Vassilis Stigas and supported by jailed Ilias Kasidiaris, won 4.7% in the election and hold 12 parliamentary seats.
Ilias Kasidiaris is a former prominent member of the now-outlawed Golden Dawn party that had neo-Nazi origins and connections to multiple violent attacks targeting migrants and left-wing political activists.
Tougher regulations were imposed on election eligibility to bar Kasidiaris from running as a candidate from inside prison. A party he had founded from behind bars was disqualified, and he switched his support to the Spartans.
58-year-old primary school teacher and theologian, Dimitrios Natsios, is the leader of Niki, or Victory, which holds 10 seats as it garnered under 3.7% of the vote.
It draws support from the fringes of the powerful Greek Orthodox church and gained a following over its opposition to the COVID-19 vaccination program.
Elliniki Lysi, also known as the Greek Solution, is the third fringe right-wing party. With 4.4% of the vote and 12 seats, it was re-elected to parliament. Kyriakos Velopoulos, who is well-known for his historical, religious, and alternative therapy-focused broadcasts for a provincial Greek television station, is in charge of it.
Meanwhile, with barely 3.17% of the vote needed to enter Parliament, Plefsi Eleftherias, or Passage to Freedom, won eight seats on the left. It is led by former Syriza member and former speaker of Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou.
Parliament President To Be Elected
In accordance with parliamentary guidelines and group recommendations, the new parliament will reconvene on Tuesday, July 4, 202, to elect the Parliament president and the presidium.
The ruling ND party has proposed the previous parliament President, Konstantinos Tasoulas.
On Thursday, July 6, 2023, a three-day debate on the policy statement of the newly elected government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis will begin.
The debate will come to an end with a vote on Saturday, July 8, 2023, in which the new government will ask parliament for a vote of confidence.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will start the debate, followed by members of the new government, the presidents of the parliamentary groups, parliamentary spokespersons and MPs from all parties.
A roll-call vote held latest at midnight on the third day of the debate, will culminate the debate and is carried with an absolute majority of MPs present, which cannot, however, be less than two-fifths (120 MPs) of the plenum.
