The members of the Greek Parliament are elected by universal suffrage of all citizens over the age of 18. It 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 Members of the Parliament are elected directly by the people, as citizens can declare their preference by marking their name on the ballot. The remaining 12 seats are elected by nationwide party lists on a top-down basis and based on the proportion of the total vote received by each party in the election.
This electoral law establishes a complex system of reinforced proportional representation which does not favour the creation of small parties and makes parliamentary majority possible even if the leading party has not received an absolute majority of the popular vote. Each party must receive at least 3% of the vote in order to elect Members of the Parliament. The leading party has can achieve a parliamentary majority (151 Members of the Parliament), provided it receives at least 41% of the popular vote. The electoral law can be changed by simple parliamentary majority but the new law does not apply to the next elections but to the ones after that, unless it has been voted by a majority of ⅔ of the totalnumber of Members of the Parliament.
