Leader of the Opposition (Greece)

For the Leader of the Opposition in other parliamentary systems, see Leader of the Opposition.
Leader of the Opposition
Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης
Incumbent
Kyriakos Mitsotakis
since 11 January 2016
Term length While leader of the largest political party not in government
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The Leader of the Opposition (Greek: Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης) is the politician who leads the official Opposition in Greece.

Role

The Leader of the Opposition is normally the leader of the largest party not within the government, which is usually the second largest political party in the Hellenic Parliament.

One exception to this rule was during the Papademos government, when Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democracy, despite supporting the new government, retained the position of Leader of the Opposition. According to the Standing Orders of the Hellenic Parliament (Art. 20) "The President of the largest Parliamentary Group which does not participate in the Government, is called Leader of the Opposition and has special rights recognised by the Parliament's Standing Orders and current provisions". Because Samaras wanted to retain this position, no New Democracy MPs joined the Government, since if a single MP had joined the Government as a minister that would have meant that the New Democracy Parliamentary Group participated in the Government. Only non-MPs were allowed to join the Government. In fact, the new Defence Minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, was forced to resign from his seat in order to satisfy the above provision. Despite protests form the other parties, the Parliament's Speaker decided that there was no violation of Art. 20, since no New Democracy MP participated in the Government.

Following the January 2015 legislative election, Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democracy, became Leader of the Opposition for a second time.

Samaras resigned as chairman of New Democracy on 5 July 2015, after the overwhelming victory of the "No" vote in the Greek bailout referendum, naming Vangelis Meimarakis as transitional chairman.[1]

List of Leaders of the Opposition since 1974

# Leader Political Party Term of office
1 Georgios Mavros Centre Union – New Forces 1974–1976
2 Ioannis Zigdis Union of the Democratic Centre 1976–1977
3 Andreas Papandreou PASOK 1977–1981
4 Georgios Rallis New Democracy 1981
5 Evangelos Averoff New Democracy 1981–1984
6 Konstantinos Mitsotakis New Democracy 1984–1989
(3) Andreas Papandreou PASOK 1989
None - National Unity Government1989–1990
(3) Andreas Papandreou PASOK 1990–1993
7 Miltiadis Evert New Democracy 1993–1997
8 Kostas Karamanlis New Democracy 1997–2004
9 George Papandreou PASOK 2004–2009
10 Antonis Samaras New Democracy 2009–2012
11 Alexis Tsipras SYRIZA 2012–2015
(10) Antonis Samaras New Democracy 2015
12 Vangelis Meimarakis New Democracy 2015
13 Ioannis Plakiotakis New Democracy 2015–2016
14 Kyriakos Mitsotakis New Democracy 2016–present

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Παραιτήθηκε ο Αντώνης Σαμαράς από την ηγεσία της Νέας Δημοκρατίας" (in Greek). in.gr. 5 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
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