unicameral Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; members elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held on 4 October 2009 (next to be held by 2013)
election results: percent of vote by party - PASOK 43.9%, ND 33.5%, KKE 7.5%, LAOS 5.6%, SYRIZA 4.6%, other 4.9%; seats by party - PASOK 160, ND 91, KKE 21, LAOS 15, SYRIZA 13; note - seats by party as of 15 December 2010 - PASOK 156, ND 86, KKE 21 LAOS 15, SYRIZA 9, DISY 5, Democratic Left 4, independents 4 (DISY and Democratic Left entered parliament as members of ND and SYRIZA, respectively, and the independents entered parliament as members of PASOK); only parties supassing a 3% threshold are entitled to parliamentary seats; parties need 10 seats to become formal parliamentary groups, but can retain that status if the party participated in the last election and received the minimum 3% threshold
Judicial branch:
Supreme Judicial Court; Special Supreme Tribunal; all judges are appointed for life by the president after consultation with a judicial council
Political parties and leaders:
Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow or ANTARSYA
[Petros KONSTANTINOU]; Coalition of the Radical Left or SYRIZA
[Alexis TSIPRAS]; Communist Party of Greece or KKE [Aleka PAPARIGA];
Democratic Left [Fotis KOUVELIS]; Democratic Alliance or DISY
[Theodora BAKOGIANNI]; Ecologist Greens [Nikos CHRYSOGELOS]; Golden
Dawn [Nikolaos MICHALOLIAKOS]; New Democracy or ND [Antonis
SAMARAS]; Panhellenic Socialist Movement or PASOK [Georgios
PAPANDREOU]; Popular Orthodox Rally or LAOS [Georgios KARATZAFERIS]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Civil Servants Confederation or ADEDY [Spyros PAPASPYROS];
Federation of Greek Industries or SEV [Dimitris DASKALOPOULOS];
General Confederation of Greek Workers or GSEE [Ioannis PANAGOPOULOS]
International organization participation: