Leader of the Opposition (Greece)
The Leader of the Official Opposition (Greek: Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης) is the politician who leads the official Opposition in Greece.
Leader of the Official Opposition
Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης | |
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Term length | While leader of the largest political party not in government |
Inaugural holder | Yannis Makriyannis |
Formation | 16 September 1843 |
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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
Political Party: EK–ND / EDIK PASOK ND SYRIZA
Portrait | Name | Political Party | Term of office | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Georgios Mavros | Centre Union – New Forces in 1976 merged into Union of the Democratic Centre |
1974 | 28 November 1977 | ||
Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 28 November 1977 | 21 October 1981 | ||
Georgios Rallis | New Democracy | 21 October 1981 | December 1981 | ||
Evangelos Averoff | New Democracy | December 1981 | 1 September 1984 | ||
Konstantinos Mitsotakis | New Democracy | 1 September 1984 | 12 October 1989 | ||
Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 12 October 1989 | 23 November 1989 | ||
None – National Unity Government | 23 November 1989 | 11 April 1990 | |||
Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 11 April 1990 | 13 October 1993 | ||
Miltiadis Evert | New Democracy | 13 October 1993 | 21 March 1997 | ||
Kostas Karamanlis | New Democracy | 21 March 1997 | 10 March 2004 | ||
George Papandreou | PASOK | 10 March 2004 | 6 October 2009 | ||
Antonis Samaras | New Democracy | 30 November 2009 | 20 June 2012 | ||
Alexis Tsipras | SYRIZA | 20 June 2012 | 26 January 2015 | ||
Antonis Samaras | New Democracy | 26 January 2015 | 5 July 2015 | ||
Vangelis Meimarakis | New Democracy | 5 July 2015 | 24 November 2015 | ||
Ioannis Plakiotakis (interim) |
New Democracy | 24 November 2015 | 11 January 2016 | ||
Kyriakos Mitsotakis | New Democracy | 11 January 2016 | 8 July 2019 | ||
Alexis Tsipras | SYRIZA | 8 July 2019 | Incumbent |
See also
References
- "Παραιτήθηκε ο Αντώνης Σαμαράς από την ηγεσία της Νέας Δημοκρατίας" (in Greek). in.gr. 5 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.