Politics

The politics of Greece takes place in a large parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament. Since the restoration of democracy the party system is dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy (Nea Dimokratia) and the socialist Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima). The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The 1975 constitution, which describes Greece as a "presidential parliamentary republic", includes extensive specific guarantees of civil liberties and vests the powers of the head of state in a president elected by parliament. The Greek governmental structure is similar to that found in many Western democracies, and has been described as a compromise between the French and German models. The prime minister and cabinet play the central role in the political process, while the president performs some executive and legislative functions in addition to ceremonial duties.

Executive Branch

The Cabinet of Greece includes the heads of all executive ministries, appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister. The President of the Republic is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term (election last held March 7, 2004), and a maximum of two terms in office. When a presidential term expires, Parliament votes to elect the new President. In the first two votes, a 2/3 majority (200 votes) is necessary. The third and final vote requires a 3/5 (180 votes) majority. If the third vote is fruitless, Parliament is dissolved and elections are proclaimed by the outgoing President within the next 30 days. In the new Parliament, the election for President is repeated immediately with a 3/5 majority required for the initial vote, an absolute majority for the second one (151 votes) and a simple majority for the third and final one. The system is so designed as to promote consensus Presidential candidates among the main political parties.

The president has the power to declare war, to grant pardon and to conclude agreements of peace, alliance, and participation in international organisations; upon the request of the government a simple parliamentary majority is required to ratify such actions, agreements, or treaties. An absolute or a three-fifths majority is required in exceptional cases (for example, the accession into the EU needed a 3/5 majority). The president can also exercise certain emergency powers, which must be countersigned by the appropriate cabinet minister. Changes to the constitution in 1986 limited the president's political powers. As a result, the president may not dissolve parliament, dismiss the government, suspend certain articles of the constitution, issue a proclamation or declare a state of siege without countersigning by the prime minister or the appropriate cabinet minister. To call a referendum, he must obtain approval from parliament.

The prime minister is elected by the people and is usually the leader of the party controlling the absolute majority of Parliament members. According to the Constitution, the prime minister safeguards the unity of the government and directs its activities. They are the most powerful person of the Greek political system and they recommend to the President the appointment or the dismissal of the ministers.

Greek parliamentary politics hinge upon the principle of the "dedilomeni", the "declared confidence" of Parliament to the Prime Minister and their administration. This means that the President of the Republic is bound to appoint as Prime Minister a person who will be approved by a majority of the Parliament's members (i.e. 151 votes). With the current electoral system, it is the leader of the party gaining a plurality of the votes in the Parliamentary elections who gets appointed Prime Minister. An administration may, at any time, seek a "vote of confidence"; conversely, a number of Members of Parliament may ask that a "vote of reproach" be taken. Both are rare occurrences with usually predictable outcomes as voting outside the party line happens very seldom.

Legislative Branch

Greece elects a legislature by universal suffrage of all citizens over the age of 18. The Greek Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term by a system of reinforced proportional representation in 48 multi-seat constituencies, 8 single-seat constituencies and a single nationwide list. 288 of the 300 seats are determined by constituency voting, and voters may select the candidate or candidates of their choice by marking their name on the party ballot. The remaining 12 seats are filled from nationwide party lists on a top-down basis and based on the proportion of the total vote each party received.

Greece uses a complex reinforced proportional representation electoral system which discourages splinter parties and makes a parliamentary majority possible even if the leading party falls short of a majority of the popular vote. Under the current electoral law, any single party must receive at least a 3% nationwide vote tally in order to elect Members of Parliament (the so-called "3% threshold"). The law in its current form favours the first past the post party to achieve an absolute (151 parliamentary seats) majority, provided it receives a 41%+ nationwide vote. This is touted to enhance governmental stability. The electoral law can be changed by simple parliamentary majority, but a law so changed only becomes enforced in the election following the upcoming one, unless it is voted by the Greek Parliament with a majority of 2/3 of the total number of the deputies.

Judicial Branch

In Greece, the judicial branch is divided into civil and administrative courts. Civil courts judge civil and penal cases, whereas administrative courts judge administrative cases, namely disputes between the citizens and the State.

The judicial system of Greece comprises three Supreme Courts: the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and the Chamber of Accounts. These high courts are composed of professional judges, graduates of the National School of Judges. The way the judges are gradually promoted, until they become members of the Supreme Courts, is defined by the Constitution and the existing laws. The presidents and the vice-presidents of the three Supreme Courts are chosen by the Cabinet of Greece among the serving members of each of the Supreme Courts.

The Court of Cassation is the supreme civil and penal court, whereas the Council of State is the supreme administrative court. The Chamber of Accounts has an exclusive competence on certain administrative areas (for example it judges disputes arising from the legislation regulating the pensions of civil servants) and its decisions are irrevocable. This means that they are not judged at second instance by the Council of State.

Sometimes, the Supreme Courts take contradictory decisions or they judge differently the constitutionality of a legal provision. These disputes are resolved by the Supreme Special Court, whose composition and jurisdiction is regulated by the Constitution (article 100). As its name reveals, this court is not permanent and it sits, when a special case belonging to its jurisdiction arises. When the Supreme Special Court sits, it comprises eleven members: the Presidents of the three Supreme Courts, four members of the Court of Cassation and four members of the Council of State. When it judges the constitutionality of a law or resolves the disputes between Supreme Courts, its composition comprises two more members: two professors of the Law Schools of Greece. The Supreme Special Court is the only court which can declare an unconstitutional legal provision as "powerless", while the three Supreme Courts can only declare an unconstitutional legal provision as "inapplicable". The Supreme Special Court is also the Supreme Electoral Court, judging pleas against the legality of the legislative elections.

Military

The armed forces of Greece (Hellas) consist of the

• Hellenic Army
• Hellenic Navy
• Hellenic Air Force

The civilian authority for the Greek military is the Ministry of National Defence.

Military Conscription

As of 2006, Greece has mandatory military service of 12 months for men between the ages of 19 and 45. Citizens discharged from active service are normally placed in the Reserve and are subject to periodic recall of 1-10 days at irregular intervals.

• Conscripts may serve a reduced tour for various social or other reasons. Some common categories of conscripts serving reduced tours are:
• Citizens who moved to Greece before their eleventh birthday from countries of the former Eastern Block or Turkey are required to serve three months.
• Citizens who have been living constantly abroad since their eleventh birthday and whose parents are not employed by the Greek state are required to serve six months.
• Scientists involved in outstanding research may serve three to six months, but are required to buy off the remaining duration of the normal tour.
• Members of large families (over three children) may serve between six (families with over 6 children) and nine months (families with 4,5 or 6 children). In most cases this applies only to the oldest brothers.
• Citizens whose income is required to support family members (such as children, elderly parents or younger siblings) usually serve a nine month tour. In most cases this only applies to the oldest male members of the family who are capable of generating income.

As the Armed forces had been gearing towards a complete professional army system, the government had promised that the mandatory military service would be cut to 6 months by 2008 or even abolished completely. However, this timetable is under reconsideration as of April 2006, due to severe manpower shortages.

Military Spending

Greece directs approximately 4.3% of its GDP to military expenditures, the 4th highest percentage in Europe (behind Russia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).In absolute numbers, the Greek military budget ranked 28th in the world in 2005. By the same measure, Greek military budget ranked 6th in the Mediterranean basin (behind France, Italy, Turkey, Israel and Spain) and 2nd (behind Turkey) in its immediate vicinity, the Balkans. It must be noted that Greek arms purchasing is among the highest in the world: Greece ranked 3rd in the world in 2004.

These figures may be explained in the light of the arms race between Greece and Turkey with key issues being the Cyprus dispute and disagreement over sovereignty of certain islets of the Aegean.