Parliament - Government

We propose that general elections be held every four years on a given fixed date.  If, due to some special reason expressly specified in the Constitution, elections must be held before the four years are completed, the government that will arise from these elections will not have a four year term, but will serve only the remainder of the running term. This will stop the constant preoccupation about imminent elections that, in our country, begins right after elections are over. The Swedish Constitution has such a provision.

During the election campaign, it must be prohibited to parties and candidates to make references to any other party but their own. This must apply to all campaign messages: in newspapers, on television, or on the internet. Mudslinging with negative advertising is unacceptable. Each candidate must speak only for himself and his party: what he has done, what he plans to do. Four years are sufficient for the Greek people to judge the track record of all. The recital of mutual accusations before elections does not befit a civilized country, and does not contribute to the process of providing relevant information to the electoral body.

The so-called white or blank vote could play an important role in promoting a healthy political system. The law calling for the obligation to vote must be scrapped. Voting is a right, not an obligation. The white vote must be considered as a negative vote for all the parties that take part in the elections. At the present, there is no institutional way for someone to express his scorn for the whole of the offered solutions, the total of the political system. It is obvious that if someone is uninterested in the outcome of the elections, there is no reason for him to spend his Sunday to go to a ballot box and throw a white vote. Therefore, the white vote must be taken into consideration as a message of conscious choice, contrary to what is in effect up to now.

Let us think: What must happen if the white vote comes out as the "first party"?  Or, if the white vote is the choice of more than 50% of the voters? Obviously, the electoral result lacks legitimacy – the electoral result was proven to be in obvious disharmony with the popular feeling. Are the elections canceled? Are the parties that took part in the elections dissolved? Is the financing given to them by the State stopped? What is the role of the President of the Republic? There are no easy answers to these questions, because there are many parameters that must be taken into account. However, we must find the answers. If the white vote had had the force for institutional reversal of the political system, it is most likely that the reversal would have already been made. It is unreasonable to have to reach the absolute decay in order to give birth to something genuinely new.

All pensions All pensions given to elected officials are eliminated. This includes pensions to Presidents of the Republic, Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, Mayors, Prefects, Trade Union Officials. No one should become a politician in order to profit financially. To serve in office is a service to the country – it is voluntary! During his term in office, the elected official continues to be covered by the public insurance fund that covered him before his election. He will receive his pension from this fund at the age of 65, as all Greeks do, without his years in office adding any special privileges.

The number of deputies is set at 200 from 300 today.

A time restriction is established – the maximum of elected service is set at 12 years. After the completion of the 12 years, the elected official cannot stand as a candidate for any elected position.

Members of Parliament and Government Ministers cannot have other outside jobs. The time has come for the legislative and executive powers to acquire independence.

No one can be a candidate for a seat in Parliament without a minimum of 5 years of work in any - not political - field. This means that we will be “deprived” of the services of the graduates from the nurseries of the youth divisions of the political parties and the sons and daughters of political “families”. We will manage without them!

Extra pay for the Members of Parliament to attend committee meetings is eliminated. This is their job.

Parliamentary immunity is eliminated. However, in order to avoid the burden on Members of Parliament that may be dragged into frivolous cases by political opponents, the Parliament will have the authority to give immunity to a Member that applies for it, if the case is political. The applicant must prove that the case is indeed political, and the decision of the Parliament to grant immunity must be taken with a 2/3 majority.

All employees of Parliament who were hired in “personalized” positions (which means in positions that were created specifically for them, in order to take care of relatives and associates of Members of Parliament, without the existence of real need) are fired immediately.

The employees of Parliament are brought into the wage scale of all government employees. Their number and the duties of each are reviewed by an independent international - not Greek – consulting company, which draws from scratch the flow chart of Parliament. The company determines the necessary number of employees to provide satisfactory services to the Parliament. The most qualified of the existing employees will be kept. The rest will be fired.

The television channel of Parliament with its scandalous operating expenses and opaque budget is shut down immediately. However, we must recognize that its operation was particularly useful for those of us that had the perversion to follow the parliamentary meetings, especially of the committees: it unveiled the foolishness, the emptiness, the sterile brain and the wretched speech of the “representatives of the people".

All contracts granted by the Parliament to outside providers must be audited retroactively.