A RELATIONAL DATABASE OF INDIVIDUAL AND PARTY ELECTORAL RETURNS IN GREEK NATIONAL ELECTIONS, * 12/17/2004.

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1 A RELATIONAL DATABASE OF INDIVIDUAL AND PARTY ELECTORAL RETURNS IN GREEK NATIONAL ELECTIONS, * 12/17/2004 Tasos Kalandrakis University of Rochester * I gladly acknowledge financial support by the Hellenic Studies Program at Yale University via a grant from the Stavros S. Niarchos foundation. I also thank the department of Political Science at Yale Univeristy, where the larger part of this work was completed in my capacity as an assistant professor. Andrianni Mardaki and Yiannis Petroutsos provided valuable research assistance. Finally, I am grateful to Lola and Panagiotis Kalandrakis for their help and input in the duration of the project. Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Rochester. Correspondence Address: Department of Political Science, University of Rochester, Harkness Hall 333, Rochester, NY akalandr@troi.cc.rochester.edu.

2 INTRODUCTION This database was compiled as part of larger project to study electoral behavior in Greek national Since the restoration of democracy in 1974 Greece s 300 representatives to the national parliament (Βουλή - Vouli) have been elected via open list proportional 1 representation electoral systems (with the exception of the 1985 elections). These systems operate as follows. The voter in each district casts a single ballot that corresponds to his/her party of choice. On that ballot is a list of the individuals nominated by the party to receive the seats earned by the party in that district. Prior to casting the ballot, the voter indicates his/her preference among the individual candidates on that list. By tradition, this is done by writing a cross (+) next to the candidate s name. Currently, the maximum number of individual preference votes varies with the size of the district. Following the election, votes are tallied both for the parties as well as for the individuals within party lists. The party votes determine the number of seats to be elected by each party in each district. The candidate preference votes are used in order to rank the individual candidates within each party list, with those receiving the larger number placed first. Those candidates with the highest ranking are elected, in a number equal to the number of seats earned by the party in the district. Of the 300 representatives in the Greek parliament, 288 are elected in 56 electoral districts according to the method above. The remaining 12 are elected from one at large (Επικρατείας - Epikratias) district according to a predetermined ranking in a (closed) list put forth prior to the election by each party. The distribution of seats in the at large district is calculated using parties national vote shares. Only in the national elections of 1985 all deputies from all districts were elected on the basis of the predetermined ranking in a closed list compiled by the political parties for each district. CONTENTS The data stored in the database are electoral returns at the district level both for the parties contesting the election as well as for individual candidates (number of preference votes) within party lists. Specifically, the database relates information for the following types of units: 10 national elections to the Greek national parliament between1974 and 2000, 1 The plural is used because the electoral law has changed a number of times in the period. Proportional merely indicates the use of an algorithm other than the typical majoritarian ones (plurality, majority, majority runoff). With the exception of the system used in the three consecutive elections in 1989, November, 1989, and 1990, these systems fall in a family it s inventors have termed reinforced proportional representation. By effecting seat allocations at higher tiers using the totality of votes cast (notes just the remainders of votes not used for the allocation of seats at lower tiers), these systems give a significant bonus to larger parties almost guaranteeing a majority in parliament for the plurality party. 1

3 57 electoral districts (including one at large district), 140 parties, alliances, or independent party lists, and 9,506 individual candidates. Available information includes: Election returns at the district level for all participating parties, alliances, or independent party lists as well as registered voters and invalid or blanc 2 ballots. Individual electoral returns (number of preference votes) for all individual candidates of parties that received at least 0.5% of the national vote. Composition of the elected legislature (Vouli). This information is stored in 7 tables: ELECTIONS DISTRICT PARTY CANDIDATE ELECTION DETAILS ELECTION VOTES CANDIDATE-PARTY-ELECTION The information relations among these tables are indicated in Figure 1. Following is a description of each of these tables and the fields contained in them. TABLE ELECTIONS : Unique identifier of ELECTION_TYPE: Indicates type of election. Only entry is ΒΟΥΛΕΥΤΙΚΕΣ indicating election to national parliament (Vouli). ELECTION_NAME: Verbal description of the election ELECTION_DATE: Date of the election. TABLE DISTRICT : Unique identifier of electoral districts. ELECTION_DISTRICT: Name of the electoral district. TABLE PARTY PARTY_ID: Unique identifier of parties, coalitions, or other lists contesting 2 A blanc ballot occurs when a voters votes but does not indicate a preference for any of the partisan lists (hence for no individual candidates either). 2

4 ELECTION_DISTRICT: Name of party, coalition, or other list contesting TABLE CANDIDATE CANDIDATE_ID: Unique identifier of individual candidate. LAST_NAME: Candidates last name. FIRST_NAME: Candidates first name. FATHER S_NAME: First name of Candidates father (information not reported in sources for election of 11/17/1974). TABLE ELECTION DETAILS : Unique identifier of individual election. : Unique identifier of electoral districts. REGISTERED: Candidates first name. NO_OF DEPUTIES: Number of MPs elected from this district. VOTED: Number of registered voters that voted. BLANC_INVALID: Number of invalid or blanc ballots. NO_OF CROSSES: Number of individual preference votes (crosses) a voter can cast. TABLE ELECTION VOTES PARTY_ID : Unique identifier of parties, coalitions, or other lists contesting : Unique identifier of individual election. : Unique identifier of electoral districts. NO_OF_VOTES: Number of votes cast for the party in election-district. NO_OF_SEATS: Number of seats earned by the party in election-district. TABLE CANDIDATE-PARTY-ELECTION : Unique identifier of individual election. PARTY_ID : Unique identifier of parties, coalitions, or other lists contesting CANDIDATE_ID: Unique identifier of individual candidate. : Unique identifier of electoral districts. ELECTED: Whether the candidate is elected or not. NO_OF_CROSS: Number of Preference votes received. WITH_LIST: Dummy indicating whether candidate was elected via closed list or open list. 3

5 KNOWN ISSUES There are a number of known inconsistencies in the data that cannot be resolved on the basis of the available sources. These primarily involve errors in the number of individual preference votes. Following is a list of these cases: Election of 11/17/1974: o Preference votes for New Democracy (Νέα ηµοκρατία) candidates in 2 nd district of Thessaloniki (Β ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ) Election of 10/18/1981: o Preference votes for New Democracy (Νέα ηµοκρατία) candidates in 2 nd district of Thessaloniki (Β ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ) MAGNISIA (ΝΟΜΟΣ ΜΑΓΝΗΣΙΑΣ) KASTORIA (ΝΟΜΟΣ ΚΑΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ) Election of 11/5/1989: ΙΟΑΝΝΙΝΑ (ΝΟΜΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΙΝΩΝ) o Preference votes for PASOK & NEW DEMOCRACY (ΠΑΣΟΚ & Νέα ηµοκρατία) in the district of IMATHIA (ΝΟΜΟΣ ΗΜΑΘΙΑΣ) o Preference votes for PASOK & NEW DEMOCRACY (ΠΑΣΟΚ & Νέα ηµοκρατία) in the district of DODEKANISA (ΝΟΜΟΣ Ω ΕΚΑΝΗΣΩΝ) Election of 4/8/1990: KASTORIA (ΝΟΜΟΣ ΚΑΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ) Election of 9/22/1996: o Preference votes for NEW DEMOCRACY (Νέα ηµοκρατία) in the district of IMATHIA (ΝΟΜΟΣ ΗΜΑΘΙΑΣ) SOURCES Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - Γενική διευθυνση ιοικήσεως - ιευθυνση Εκλογων - Τµηµα Εκλογών Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 17 ης Νοεµβρίου1974. Εθνικό Τυπογραφείο: Αθήνα. Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - Γενική διευθυνση ιοικήσεως - ιευθυνση Εκλογων, Συνεργασία Εθνικού Κέντρου Κοινωνικών Ερευνών Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 20 ης Νοεµβρίου1977, Α Τόµος: 4

6 Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 18 ης Οκτωβρίου1981, Α Τόµος: Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 2 Ιουνίου1985. Εθνικό Τυπογραφείο: Αθήνα. Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 18 ης Ιουνίου1989, Α Τόµος: Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 5 ης Νοεµβρίου1989, Α Τόµος: Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 8 ης Απριλίου1990, Α Τόµος: Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών δηµόσιας διοίκησης και αποκέντρωσης - Γενική διεύθυνση Αναπτυξιακών προγραµµάτων - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 10 ης Οκτωβρίου1993, Α Τόµος: Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών, ηµόσιας ιοίκησης και Αποκέντρωσης - Γενική διεύθυνση Αναπτυξιακών προγραµµάτων - ιευθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 22 ας Σεπτεµβρίου1996, Α Τόµος: Ελληνική ηµοκρατία - Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών, ηµόσιας ιοίκησης και Αποκέντρωσης - Γενική διεύθυνση Αναπτυξιακών προγραµµάτων ιεύθυνση Εκλογων Αποτελέσµατα Βουλευτικών Εκλογών της 9 ης Απριλίου2000, Α Τόµος: 5

7 FIGURE 1: Relationships for Greek Electoral Returns Database CANDIDATE_PARTY_ELE CANDIDATE CANDIDATE_ID LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME FATHER'S_NAME PARTY_ID CANDIDATE_ID ELECTED NO_OF_CROSS WITH_LIST PARTY PARTY_ID PARTY_NAME ELECTION_VOTES PARTY_ID NO_OF_VOTES NO_OF_SEATS ELECTION_DETAILS DISTRICT ELECTORAL_DISTRICT REGISTERED NO_OF_DEPUTIES VOTED BLANC/INVALID NO_OF_CROSSES ELECTIONS ELECTION_TYPE ELECTION_NAME ELECTION_DATE