The interior ministry on Friday unveiled an election law draft bill for public debate until Monday, with the center-right government aiming to overturn its leftist predecessor’s more simple representational system in favor of a weighted system in favor of the first-past-the-poll party.
Among others, the draft bill foresees that if a political party receives below 25 percent of valid votes in a general election then will not receive a bonus of extra Parliamentary seats, while a scalable bonus will be in place for parties exceeding 25 percent.
Specifically, under the draft law, a party exceeding 25 percent of the general vote (valid ballots) will be given an extra 20 seats in Greece’s 300-MP Parliament, and an additional seat with each 0.5 percent picked up thereafter.
Finally, a party – or parties in the more unlikely scenario – that exceed 40 percent of the vote will receive a bonus of 50 seats.
The next general election, whenever it take places, will be conducted under the electoral law passed by the previous SYRIZA government, a prospect that generated speculation that the current Mitsotakis government may call a snap election followed in close step by another ballot based on the law it now wants to ratify.
