Greece Passes Electoral-Reform Law
July 21 2016 - 9:40PM
Dow Jones News
ATHENS—Greece's lawmakers on Thursday passed a radical change to
the country's electoral system, which the left-wing government says
will make the political system more democratic.
Critics, however, say the law will make the crisis-racked nation
even harder to govern and complicate future attempts to form
coalition governments.
The new law scraps the 50-seat bonus in parliament that goes to
the party with the most votes. Without the bonus, seats in
parliament will simply reflect the share of all votes among parties
that get more than 3% support.
In Greece's 300-seat legislature, the majority of lawmakers
approved the law, but the government was short of the 200 votes
needed to bring the new electoral system into force in time for the
next elections.
Instead, the new system would take effect after the next
elections, due in September 2019, raising the risk that it could be
changed or reversed by the next government.
Shortly before the vote took place, Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras told lawmakers that the change marks the start of a new
political era for Greece that is needed for the country to exit the
economic crisis.
"This change meets society's demand for a rationalization and
renewal of the political system," he said.
Greece's electoral system has undergone various changes since
democracy was restored in 1974, but the system has generally
rewarded the most popular party, usually allowing for one-party
governments. Only rarely have coalitions or bipartisan consensus
been necessary—one recent coalition example being the current one
between the left-wing Syriza party and right-wing Independent
Greeks.
In theory, Greece holds elections every four years. In practice,
few recent governments have lasted that long. The country held two
snap elections in 2015.
The new law also cuts the voting age to 17 from 18, in a popular
move on Greece's political left, which has strong support among the
country's youth.
Write to Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 21, 2016 21:25 ET (01:25 GMT)
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