National holiday: Independence Day, 25 March (1821)
Constitution: 11 June 1975; amended March 1986 and April 2001
Legal system: based on codified Roman law; judiciary divided into civil, criminal, and administrative courts
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branch: chief of state: President Konstandinos (Kostis) STEPHANOPOULOS (since 10 March 1995) elections: president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 8 February 2000 (next to be held by NA February 2005); prime minister appointed by the president head of government: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister election results: Konstandinos STEPHANOPOULOS reelected president; percent of Parliament vote - 90%
Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: election results: percent of vote by party - PASOK 43.8%, ND 42.7%, KKE 5.5%, Coalition of the Left and Progress 3.2%; seats by party - PASOK 158, ND 125, KKE 11, Coalition of the Left and Progress 6; note - seats by party as of January 2002 - PASOK 156, ND 122, KKE 11, Coalition of the Left and Progress 6, independents 5
Judicial branch: Supreme Judicial Court; Special Supreme Tribunal; all judges appointed for life by the president after consultation with a judicial council
Political parties and leaders: Coalition of the Left and Progress
(Synaspismos) [Nikolaos KONSTANDOPOULOS]; Communist Party of Greece or
KKE [Aleka PAPARIGA]; New Democracy or ND (conservative) [Konstandinos
KARAMANLIS]; Panhellenic Socialist Movement or PASOK [Konstandinos
SIMITIS]
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: Australia Group, BIS, BSEC,
CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, EMU, EU, FAO, G- 6, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS
(observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO,
UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNOMIG, UPU, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTrO, ZC