«Κόμματα εξουσίας» και πολιτική στη σύγχρονη Ελλάδα

Abstract

The article analyzes the last three parliamentary elections in Greece (1996, 2000, 2004) focusing on the two major contestants for power, that is, the parties of New Democracy and PASOK. It offers an explanation of the electoral outcome from the point of view of the strategies and political competition developed between them. It argues that these elections constitute a new era in the field of competition between the two major parties, with distinctive characteristics from the past. More specifically, the two major parties now operate as “catch-all” and “cartel” parties, this explaining both the electoral result and the general status and dynamics in the political and party system in Greece. In the case of PASOK, the “catch-all” and “cartel” function was expressed through the aim for “modernization”, whilst in ND through the ideological position of the «middle space». This new era of “catch-all” and “cartel” function of the two major parties is thus characterised by a plethora of new conditions that now dominate the competition between them.