The Greek Parliament

greek parliament

The Greek Parliament is located in the Parliament House, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens.

It is a unicameral legislature of 300 members, elected for a four-year term.

The business of parliament is handled by the Presidium, which consists of the Speaker, five Deputy Speakers, three Deans and six Secretaries.

greek parliament

A member of the Presidium, who of course must be a parliamentarian, cannot be a member of the Cabinet or an Under-Secretary. While the Speaker of the Parliament and the five Deputy Speakers are elected at the beginning of each term and for the entire duration of that term, the tenure of the Deans and of the Secretaries lasts for the duration of one regular session of the Parliament for which they were elected.

The Greek Parliament has 300 members, elected for a four-year term by a system of reinforced proportional representation in 48 multi-seat constituencies, 8 single-seat constituencies and a single nationwide list. 288 of the 300 seats are determined by constituency voting, and voters may select the candidate or candidates of their choice by marking their name on the party ballot.

The remaining 12 seats are filled from nationwide party lists on a top-down basis and based on the proportion of the total vote each party received. Eligible for deputies are Greek citizens aged 17 or over on the date of the election, who are eligible to vote.

Members of Parliament are immune from criminal prosecution, arrest or detention while in office. They are also immune from having to provide any information to any authority regarding their legislative functions and deliberations.

They are not immune from civil suits. Alleged crimes committed in the member’s official capacity (e.g. embezzlement of public monies) may be adjudicated only after Parliament impeaches the member. Government ministers who are not members of Parliament are subject to the same procedure. The impeachment trial is held by an ad hoc Special Court.

Alleged crimes committed in the member’s personal capacity (e.g. homicide) may be adjudicated only after Parliament votes to have the member’s immunity suspended, at the request of a prosecuting attorney and only in relation to the particular alleged crime. In such cases, the case is adjudicated by a regular court. The Parliament’s permission is not necessary if a member is “caught in the act” of committing a crime (e.g. murder).

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