Zwei Wahlen im Zeichen der Krise. Ergebnisse, Hintergründe und Folgen
Two Elections under Crisis Conditions. Outcome, Background and Consequences

Summary/Abstract: Abstract. This article focuses on the parliamentary elections of May 6th and June 17th 2012 which marked the end of the two-party system that had been in place since 1974 and under which the conservative New Democracy and the socialist PASOK alternately formed the government. Impulses that led to the end of this system arose from conflicts over the Memo - randum, the credit arrangement between the Greek government, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund. In part, the left-right debate was superseded by the debate between supporters and opponents of the austerity policy. The paper presents the most important results of the two parliamentary elections and discusses some of the factors that were decisive for the voters’ choices. Among these was the general disappointment over the established parties’ inability to adequately deal with serious social and political grievances. The paper concludes that the former two-party system has no future.

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