| Leader of the Official Opposition of Greece | |
|---|---|
| Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης | |
 Coat of Arms of Greece | |
 Socrates Famellos since 3 July 2023 | |
| Member of | |
| Appointer | Largest political party in parliament that is not in government |
| Term length | While leader of the largest political party in parliament that is not in government |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Politics of Greece |
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The Leader of the Official Opposition (Greek: Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης) is the politician who leads the biggest opposition party in Greece.
Role[edit]
According to the Hellenic Parliament's Rules of Procedure, the Leader of the Opposition is normally the leader of the largest party not within the government,[1] which is usually the second largest political party in the Hellenic Parliament.
One exception to this rule was during the Papademos government, when Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democracy, despite supporting the new government, retained the position of Leader of the Opposition. According to the Standing Orders of the Hellenic Parliament (Art. 20) "The President of the largest Parliamentary Group which does not participate in the Government, is called Leader of the Opposition and has special rights recognised by the Parliament's Standing Orders and current provisions". Because Samaras wanted to retain this position, no New Democracy MPs joined the Government, since if a single MP had joined the Government as a minister that would have meant that the New Democracy Parliamentary Group participated in the Government. Only non-MPs were allowed to join the Government. In fact, the new Defence Minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, was forced to resign from his seat in order to satisfy the above provision. Despite protests form the other parties, the Parliament's Speaker decided that there was no violation of Art. 20, since no New Democracy MP participated in the Government.
Following the January 2015 legislative election, Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democracy, became Leader of the Opposition for a second time.
Samaras resigned as chairman of New Democracy on 5 July 2015, after the overwhelming victory of the "No" vote in the Greek bailout referendum, naming Vangelis Meimarakis as transitional chairman.[2]
Following the resignation of Alexis Tsipras in June 2023, Socrates Famellos served-initially-as the Leader of the Opposition pro tempore; however, since the 2023 Syriza leadership election resulted in the election of a non-parliamentarian (Stefanos Kasselakis) as party President, Famellos remained as the Leader of the Opposition.
List of leaders of the opposition since 1974[edit]
Political party: EK–ND / EDIK PASOK ND Syriza
| Portrait | Name | Political party | Term of office | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Georgios Mavros | EK–ND in 1976 merged into EDIK |
21 November 1974 | 28 November 1977 | |
|
Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 28 November 1977 | 21 October 1981 | |
|
Georgios Rallis | New Democracy | 21 October 1981 | December 1981 | |
|
Evangelos Averoff | 9 December 1981 | 1 September 1984 | ||
|
Konstantinos Mitsotakis | 1 September 1984 | 2 July 1989 | ||
|
Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 2 July 1989 | 12 October 1989 | |
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Grivas | 12 October 1989 | 23 November 1989 | |||
| None – Ecumenical Government of Xenophon Zolotas | 23 November 1989 | 11 April 1990 | |||
|
|
Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 11 April 1990 | 13 October 1993 | |
|
|
Konstantinos Mitsotakis | New Democracy | 13 October 1993 | 3 November 1993 | |
|
Miltiadis Evert | 3 November 1993 | 21 March 1997 | ||
|
Kostas Karamanlis | 21 March 1997 | 10 March 2004 | ||
|
George Papandreou | PASOK | 10 March 2004 | 6 October 2009 | |
|
|
Kostas Karamanlis | New Democracy | 6 October 2009 | 30 November 2009 | |
|
Antonis Samaras | 30 November 2009 | 16 May 2012 | ||
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos | 16 May 2012 | 20 June 2012 | |||
|
Alexis Tsipras | Syriza | 20 June 2012 | 26 January 2015 | |
|
|
Antonis Samaras | New Democracy | 26 January 2015 | 5 July 2015 | |
|
Vangelis Meimarakis Acting |
5 July 2015 | 27 August 2015 | ||
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | 27 August 2015 | 21 September 2015 | |||
|
|
Vangelis Meimarakis Acting |
New Democracy | 21 September 2015 | 24 November 2015 | |
|
Ioannis Plakiotakis Acting |
24 November 2015 | 11 January 2016 | ||
|
Kyriakos Mitsotakis | 11 January 2016 | 8 July 2019 | ||
|
Alexis Tsipras | Syriza | 8 July 2019 | 25 May 2023 | |
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Sarmas | 25 May 2023 | 26 June 2023 | |||
|
|
Alexis Tsipras | Syriza | 26 June 2023 | 29 June 2023 | |
|
Sokrates Famellos | 3 July 2023 | Incumbent | ||
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Κανονισμός της Βουλής των Ελλήνων (in Greek). Hellenic Parliament. 24 June 1987. p. 30.
Aρχηγός Aξιωματικής Aντιπoλίτευσης – Άρθρo 20 – O Πρόεδρoς της μεγαλύτερης σε δύναμη Koινoβoυλευτικής Oμάδας πoυ δεν μετέχει στην Kυβέρνηση απoκαλείται Aρχηγός της Aξιωματικής Aντιπoλίτευσης και έχει τα ιδιαίτερα δικαιώματα πoυ τoυ αναγνωρίζει o Kανoνισμός της Boυλής και oι κείμενες διατάξεις.
- ^ "Παραιτήθηκε ο Αντώνης Σαμαράς από την ηγεσία της Νέας Δημοκρατίας" (in Greek). in.gr. 5 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.