The Cross-Party Elections Committee convened at the interior ministry for the first time in this pre-election period on Tuesday, chaired by Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

After the end of the meeting, the Committee announced that the broadcast time allocated to smaller political parties and party coalitions with elected representatives will be increased, in both private and state-run radio and television stations.

The two larger parties will each be allocated 37.5 percent of total free broadcast time (down from 40 percent in the previous general elections), while the smaller parties will share the remaining 25 percent (up from 20 percent in the previous elections).

Also included in the smaller parties is that of the Ecologists-Greens, which succeeded in electing one MEP to the European Parliament in June.

Tuesday’s meeting also decided that there should be two televised debates between the political parties: one between the leaders of the two main parties and one with all the party leaders with elected representatives.

The details of the process and the terms of these encounters are to be decided by the political parties themselves.

Regarding the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which is going to the elections without a leader at its head, the committee decided that the party must itself decide who will represent SYRIZA during radio and television broadcasts.

On the issue of party funding from the state budget, this was set at 4.5 million euros and at a lower rate than the previous general elections because of the preceding European Parliament elections in the same year.

The minister said there would be one more meeting of the Committee that would include a representative of the Ecologists-Greens party.

This was not represented at Tuesday’s meeting, since the first meeting of the Committee has to decide whether parties elected in the European Parliament elections will participate.