The current Greek political party system is experiencing very high levels of fragmentation and polarization (Featherstone 22). Political science experts measure the degree of party fragmentation using the effective number of parties including the number of parliamentary seats. Additionally, political science experts also measure fragmentation using the influence of a party to form a coalition. In this case, the number of effective parties in Greece is 4.83. This reveals the fragmented nature of Greek party system. There is also polarization because the running government is a coalition of small parties. The political system is open as a result of the decline in levels of partisanship. Consequently, new parties have an advantage over existing parties because Greece has a sinful past. Greece is experiencing coalition politics, and political scientists predict that the country will experience durable and cohesive politics in the future.
Greece has two social cleavages including the rural–urban cleavage and the workers–owners cleavage (Pierides 6). Greek experienced political democracy for the first time in 1974 after the collapse of the military junta. During this time, most of the people were poor and uneducated farmers. Correspondingly, the Greek bourgeois strata consisted of a very small portion of people living in towns. In an attempt to create social reforms, there was the emergence of two main political parties in 1974. These parties included the New Democracy (ND) and the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) (Loomes 155). PASOK pursued the goal of creating an autonomous socialist economy while ND aimed at stabilizing the country’s democratic institutions.
The Greek electoral law has established a “reinforced proportionality” electoral system. This system uses a majority bonus to add seats to the first party so as to create a landslide victory. The special feature of this system is that parliament offers 50 additional seats to the winning coalition.
Works Cited
Featherstone, Kevin. Politics and Policy in Greece: The Challenge of Modernisation. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=_WEqNHp5m-UC&pg=PA22&dq=party+system+in+greece&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_oDmUozFA6Ow4QSu2IDABw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=party%20system%20in%20greece&f=false on 27 Jan. 2014.
Loomes, Gemma. Party Strategies in Western Europe: Party Competition and Electoral Outcomes. Chicago: Routledge, 2013. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=iGOvekeiLl0C&pg=PA155&dq=party+system+in+greece&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_oDmUozFA6Ow4QSu2IDABw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=party%20system%20in%20greece&f=false on 27 Jan. 2014.
Pierides, Constantinos. Changing social cleavages and the formation of electoral behavior in Greece of the late “Metapolitefsis” (1996 – 2007). Paper for the 4th Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/research/hellenicObservatory/pdf/4th_%20Symposium/PAPERS_PPS/POLITICAL%20PARTIES%20II/PIERIDIS.pdf on 27 Jan. 2014.
