Members of Parliament in Attica, 1990-2012. Social and Political Characteristics

The geographical region of Attica comprises five electoral districts, which collectively elect 85 Members of Parliament (MPs). Among them is the largest electoral district in the country, B’ Athens, which currently elects 42 MPs. Between 1990 and 2012, nine national elections took place—in 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, and in May and June 2012. During this period, a total of 255 MPs were elected across these five districts, with an average of four terms per MP (Table 1).

A key initial observation is that these five electoral districts exhibit significant internal differences, which are reflected in the political profiles of the MPs elected in each. The intense competition, the difficulty of being elected in A’ and B’ Athens, and the symbolic significance attributed to winning a seat in these two districts set them apart significantly from the other three. Notably, over time, 25.8% of MPs elected in A’ Athens and 18.9% in B’ Athens had previously been elected in another electoral district in Greece. This indicates that, for some political figures, election in these districts is seen as the political "culmination" of a career that began in a regional constituency.

Another indicative parameter of this distinction is the overrepresentation of MPs elected in A’ and B’ Athens in the composition of governments (see Table 2). From 1993 to 2012, the disparity between the parliamentary representation of these districts (i.e., their share of the 300 seats in Parliament) and the presence of MPs from these districts as ministers in governments is evident. During the 2000–2007 period, this gap was even more pronounced.