European Parliament election final results in Greece

Major Greek Opposition party PASOK, the extreme right-wing party Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) and the Ecologists -Greens have emerged victorious from the European parliamentary elections.

The final results had PASOK 4.3 percent ahead of New Democracy (36.6 to 32.3), but the fact that only 52.6 percent of almost 10 million eligible voters cast their ballots meant that it was difficult for either party to read too much into the numbers when considering what might happen in the next general election.

The final results of the European Parliament elections held on Sunday throughout Greece were as follows:

• PASOK, 36.65 percent (1,878,696 votes)
• New Democracy (ND)32.29% (1,655,461 votes)
• Communist Party(KKE) 8.35% (428,209 votes)
• Popular Orthodox Rally (LA.OS) 7.15% (366,562 votes)
• Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) 4.70% (240,865 votes)
• Ecologists -Greens 3.49% (178,952 votes)

According to the results PASOK and ND will have eight representatives each in the  European Parliament, KKE and LA.OS two each and SYRIZA and Ecologists - Greens one representative in the European Parliament.

Although PASOK won, it attracted 195,000 fewer voters than in the European elections five years ago and 849,000 fewer than in the general elections of 2007.

The low turnout also affected ND dramatically. Almost one in two voters that supported the conservatives two years ago failed to back them this time. Almost 1 million fewer people voted for the government on Sunday than in 2004.

The right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LA.OS), which was the only parliamentary party to see its support rise. It attracted 162,000 voters in the March 2004 general election, but on Sunday 367,000 people voted for the nationalists.

The Ecologists -Greens did not gain the level of support that had been predicted in public opinion polls prior to the elections but it still managed to attract sufficient votes to elect the first Greek Green MP into the European Parliament.

Karamanlis commented on the record abstention in his speech late on Sunday night.

“It is clear that a lot of New Democracy voters chose to protest by sending us a message, mainly through abstention,” he said, promising a government that would be speedier, more decisive and effective.

Papandreou did not make reference to the stay-away vote in his speech and PASOK sources said that the party was trying to make sense of the low turnout on Sunday, while not getting carried away with its victory.