Winning by Default: The Greek Election of 2009

Abstract

Despite its landslide in the 2009 national election, the victory of the Panhellenic Socialist Movemen (PASOK) was not so much the outcome of its own electoral ascendancy as a result of the precipitous fall of New Democracy (ND). That election, moreover, signified the stagnation of the Greek party system, which has become manifest particularly in three areas: the lack of enthusiasm for PASOK's new government; the great difficulty of ND in modernising its party structure and ideology; and the persistence of two-partyism.