Chamber:
	Vouli Ton Ellinon
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	9 April 2000
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament following the premature dissolution of this body. General elections had previously been held in September 1996.
Background and outcome of elections:
	The general elections on 9 April 2000 resulted in a narrow victory, by a scant 1 per cent, for Mr Costas Simitis and his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) over the rival New Democracy party led by Costas Karamanlis. Specifically, PASOK polled 43.79 per cent of the vote, thus winning 158 seats in the 300-member single chamber parliament as against 125 seats for New Democracy. Under the Greek electoral system, designed to prevent coalitions, the party receiving the most votes secures an absolute majority in parliament by receiving bonus seats, even if the popular vote is less than 50 per cent. Mr. Simitis had called early elections in the hope of benefiting from Greece's economic gains, which will allow Greece to join the European single currency - the Euro - in June 2000. However, he had to face the conservatives' campaign which targeted such day-to-day issues as unemployment and crime. A total of 26 political parties, including the five represented in the previous parliament contested the elections. Only four of them passed the minimum three per cent of votes nationwide required for a party to gain representation in parliament. After the announcement of the official results, on 10 April, Mr. Simitis was given the mandate by the President of the Republic Costis Stephanopoulos to form a new government. He announced his new government a few days later.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (9 April 2000): Elections results
Number of registered electors	9 277 277
Voters	7 026 634 (76 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	158 501
Valid votes	6 868 133

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Votes	%
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)	3 008 081	43.80
New Democracy (ND)	2 934 948	42.73
Communist Party (KKE)	379 280	5.52
Coalition of the Left and Progress (SYN)	219 988	3.20

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)	158
New Democracy (ND)	125
Communist Party (KKE)	11
Coalition of the Left and Progress (SYN)	6

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	274
Women:	26
Percent of women:	8.67 %

Distribution of seats according to age:
25 to 34 years	6
35 to 44 years	54
45 to 54 years	138
55 to 64 years	80
Over 65 years	22
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Legal professions	83
Engineers	42
Medical professions	42
Teachers	21
Economists	20
Civil servants (incl. former)	20
Business/Trade/Industry	12
Journalists/writers/publishers	9
Actors	3
Others	48