9,897,120 people
Source: Tyranny Tracker
HRF classifies Greece as democratic.
Greece is a parliamentary republic in Southeastern Europe. Following a seven-year military dictatorship (1967–1974), the country underwent a peaceful transition to democracy, culminating in the adoption of the 1975 Constitution. Since then, Greece has maintained regular, competitive elections, alternation of power among major political parties, and generally robust protections for civil liberties. It joined the European Communities (now the European Union) in 1981 and the Eurozone in 2001.
In 2009, the country entered a sovereign debt crisis, fueled by an economic contraction (reflecting the global 2008 downturn), falling state revenues, and pervasive tax evasion. The following year, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered an approximately $146 billion USD rescue package to Greece, contingent upon the adoption of far-reaching austerity measures (such as welfare spending cuts). Profound economic hardship and precarity contributed to the rise of anti-establishment parties, culminating in the 2015 coalition government between the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party, which won the year’s election on a vehement anti-austerity platform, and the far-right Independent Greeks (ANEL). As they struggled to deliver on their economic programs, however, SYRIZA, ANEL, and other fringe parties lost considerable popular support, with voters swinging to the center-right New Democracy and center-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) parties in recent electoral cycles. New Democracy has been in office since 2019. After winning the 2023 parliamentary elections, the party has governed singlehandedly, with leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis serving as Prime Minister.
National elections are largely free and fair. The incumbent New Democracy (ND) won an outright majority in the June 2023 parliamentary elections, with a large number of other actors competing on an equal footing. Those were the second parliamentary elections of the year, as an earlier vote that May did not yield a stable governing majority. The legal framework is largely conducive to electoral integrity, according to international observers. Parliament adopted electoral amendments that would bar parties whose leadership had previous felony convictions from running earlier in 2023, raising concerns of arbitrary disqualifications. However, the incumbent party hasn’t abused these provisions to hamper the mainstream opposition.
Independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public are largely free to criticize or challenge the government openly. However, since the ND came to office in 2019, Greece has experienced a steady erosion of media pluralism and a narrowing of civic space. The government has extended executive overreach over key media oversight bodies; engaged in arbitrary surveillance of opposition members and prominent journalists; and arbitrarily favored government-friendly outlets through the nontransparent allocation of public funds, hampering Greece’s once-robust media ecosystem. While civil society is vibrant, organizations working on issues related to migration and asylum face unnecessary registration barriers and, on limited occasions, arbitrary legal action. Lastly, while most peaceful gatherings proceed without undue interference, excessive use of force by police against demonstrators and reporters remains a lingering and often underinvestigated problem.
While the ND’s last two terms in office brought about significant institutional erosion, institutions are independent and still largely serve as effective checks on the government. For instance, state agencies have held public officials accountable for misusing voters’ personal data to secure an unfair campaign advantage. The courts’ adjudication of arbitrary lawsuits hampering the freedom of dissent has been mostly, if not entirely, consistent with EU standards. At the same time, the executive retains uncurbed control over a few key agencies (including the Security Service, which falls under the direct purview of the prime minister), while Parliament has abused some of its powers to shield former officials from accountability for corruption.
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