May 2012 Greek parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 6 May 2012 to elect all 300 members to the Hellenic Parliament. It was scheduled to be held in late 2013, four years after the previous election; however, an early election was stipulated in the coalition agreement of November 2011 which formed the Papademos Cabinet. The coalition comprised both of Greece's traditional major political parties, PASOK on the left and New Democracy (ND) on the right, as well as the right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The aim of the coalition was to relieve the Greek government-debt crisis by ratifying and implementing decisions taken with other Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a month earlier.

The elections delivered massive losses for the parties of the outgoing government, resulting in a realignment of Greek politics. PASOK, who won the 2009 election in a relative landslide, won just 13% of the overall vote, a decline of almost three-quarters. ND emerged in first place with just 19% of votes, approximately half of its previous result. LAOS lost all of its seats. Syriza, previously a minor party on the left-wing, ran on an anti-austerity platform and outpolled PASOK with 17% of the vote. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) improved its performance to 8.5%. Three new parties entered Parliament in the election – the right-wing populist Independent Greeks (ANEL) won 11%, the far-right Golden Dawn (XA) 7%, and the Democratic Left (DIMAR) 6%.

New Democracy won a substantial plurality of 108 seats thanks to Greece's majority bonus, but ND and PASOK were the only pro-bailout parties present and now lacked a majority between them. Conversely, the anti-bailout parties were deeply divided between left and right. ND leader Antonis Samaras, Syriza's Alexis Tsipras, and PASOK's Evangelos Venizelos all tried and failed to put together governments in the days following the election. On 16 May, President Karolos Papoulias appointed Panagiotis Pikrammenos as caretaker Prime Minister and scheduled a new general election for 17 June.