By Dimitris Hatzinikolas
A decision by the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) party to abstain from Thursday’s vote in Parliament over a contentious draft bill envisioning election law changes essentially ends all prospects that the changes will be implemented in the next election.
The decision by the extremist party was announced by a party MP on Wednesday. At last count, roughly 179 deputies were expected to vote for the draft bill.
Two hundred MPs out of the 300 in Parliament would have to approve the bill for changes to take effect whenever the next election was held.
The leftist Greek government has tabled legislation making Greece’s election system more proportional by eliminated a 50-MP bonus for the party that is “first past the post” in a general election. The bill also grants the right to vote to minors over the age of 17.
The prospect of eliminating the MP bonus has been vilified by most of the opposition as simply leading to political instability in the aftermath of any coming election, given that forming a one-party government is extremely difficult. The main opposition party, center-right New Democracy party, went further and charged that the changes aim to block it from power in a first election, necessitating a second round.
ND leads in most opinion polls in the country over the recent period.
If passed by a simple majority, 150+1, then changes will come into effect after the next election.
