# Leader of the Official Opposition (Greece)

The Leader of the Official Opposition (Greek: Αρχηγός της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης) is the politician who leads the biggest opposition party in Greece.
Today Leader of the Official Opposition is the President of the parliamentary group of PASOK - Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis.

## Role

According to the Rules of the Hellenic Parliament: "The President of the largest Parliamentary Group, who is not a member of the Government, is called the Leader of the Official Opposition, an office which gives him/her special rights (e.g. more speaking time during parliamentary sittings). (...) The leader of the party is also considered the President of the Parliamentary Group if he/she has been elected as a Member of Parliament."
The leader of the official opposition is regarded as the fourth highest state office of the Hellenic Republic, after the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament. In addition, the leader of the opposition has certain minor privileges at the stage of the parliamentary procedure, including the ability to request two debates before the agenda, a longer speaking time and the right to appoint up to three deputy representatives at meetings, the same as the Prime Minister.

### The case of Stefanos Kasselakis

Stefanos Kasselakis was the president of Syriza for the period September 2023 - September 2024, without being a member of parliament. This peculiarity, which is unprecedented in the history of Greek parliamentarianism, has sparked a debate on who is now considered to be the leader of the opposition. According to constitutional expert Charalambos Tsiliotis, the leader of the official opposition should be the president of SYRIZA parliamentary group, currently the party's MP Nikos Pappas. However, the prevailing practice was to refer to Stefanos Kasselakis as the leader of the official opposition. Αfter all, in Parliament he had the privileges of the leader of the official opposition: free access to Parliament and the official office of the leader of the opposition, secretaries, the right to have officials seconded to him, official cars, police protection, etc. Following his dismissal as president of SYRIZA on 12 September 2024, his privileges were revoked.

### Change of opposition leader without elections

The crisis that erupted in Syriza in the autumn of 2024 due to the expulsion of the elected President Stefanos Kaselakis from the party's organs and the subsequent rupture between the two sides led to the independence of MPs, resulting in the party losing the role of the official opposition, remaining second with 29 MPs behind Pasok (31 MPs), which was officially declared the official opposition on 21 November 2024. The President of the Parliament noted that this phenomenon - a change in the leader of the opposition without elections is unprecedented in the Greek parliamentary history.
Pasok returned as an opposition leader party after 15 years.

## List of leaders of the opposition since 1974

Political party:  EK–ND / EDIK  PASOK  ND  Syriza  PASOK – KINAL
| Portrait | Portrait | Name | Political party | Term of office | Term of office |
| | | Georgios Mavros | EK–ND in 1976 merged into EDIK | 21 November 1974 | 28 November 1977 |
| | | Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 28 November 1977 | 21 October 1981 |
| | | Georgios Rallis | New Democracy | 21 October 1981 | December 1981 |
| | | Evangelos Averoff | New Democracy | 9 December 1981 | 1 September 1984 |
| | | Konstantinos Mitsotakis | New Democracy | 1 September 1984 | 2 July 1989 |
| | | Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 2 July 1989 | 12 October 1989 |
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Grivas | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Grivas | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Grivas | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Grivas | 12 October 1989 | 23 November 1989 |
| None – Ecumenical Government of Xenophon Zolotas | None – Ecumenical Government of Xenophon Zolotas | None – Ecumenical Government of Xenophon Zolotas | None – Ecumenical Government of Xenophon Zolotas | 23 November 1989 | 11 April 1990 |
| | | Andreas Papandreou | PASOK | 11 April 1990 | 13 October 1993 |
| | | Konstantinos Mitsotakis | New Democracy | 13 October 1993 | 3 November 1993 |
| | | Miltiadis Evert | New Democracy | 3 November 1993 | 21 March 1997 |
| | | Kostas Karamanlis | New Democracy | 21 March 1997 | 10 March 2004 |
| | | George Papandreou | PASOK | 10 March 2004 | 6 October 2009 |
| | | Kostas Karamanlis | New Democracy | 6 October 2009 | 30 November 2009 |
| | | Antonis Samaras | New Democracy | 30 November 2009 | 16 May 2012 |
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos | 16 May 2012 | 20 June 2012 |
| | | Alexis Tsipras | Syriza | 20 June 2012 | 26 January 2015 |
| | | Antonis Samaras | New Democracy | 26 January 2015 | 5 July 2015 |
| | | Vangelis Meimarakis Acting | New Democracy | 5 July 2015 | 27 August 2015 |
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | 27 August 2015 | 21 September 2015 |
| | | Vangelis Meimarakis Acting | New Democracy | 21 September 2015 | 24 November 2015 |
| | | Ioannis Plakiotakis Acting | New Democracy | 24 November 2015 | 11 January 2016 |
| | | Kyriakos Mitsotakis | New Democracy | 11 January 2016 | 8 July 2019 |
| | | Alexis Tsipras | Syriza | 8 July 2019 | 25 May 2023 |
| None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Sarmas | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Sarmas | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Sarmas | None – Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Sarmas | 25 May 2023 | 26 June 2023 |
| | | Alexis Tsipras | Syriza | 26 June 2023 | 29 June 2023 |
| | | Sokratis Famellos (de jure) | Syriza | 3 July 2023 | 27 August 2024 |
| | | Nikos Pappas (de jure) | Syriza | 27 August 2024 | 21 November 2024 |
| | | Nikos Androulakis | PASOK – Movement for Change | 21 November 2024 | Incumbent |