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Athens is the capital of Greece and has a population of about 4.5 million people in the greater Athens area. Greece is a small country with a total population of about 10 million people. The government of Greece is a parliamentary democracy. The people elect 300 parliamentary deputies who form the parliament which conducts the legislative duties of the government. The political party which can collect 151 seats or more in the parliament assumesthe duties of the administration. The party president automaticaly becomes Prime Minister and he then appoints people to become cabinet ministers. There is a President but he is not elected by the people. Instead, he is elected by the parliamentary deputies for 5 year terms at a time. As is today, when any single party achieves an absolute majorityof the parliament then that government functions as a democraticaly elected "dictatorship". Deputies are not allowed to vote against anything their own party supports therefore all measures proposedby the residing government are passed automaticaly by way of their absolute majority in parliament. This fact relegates the Greek parliament to a mere "rubber stamp" function. Regards from sunny Athens, Tom |
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