Editing PASOK (section)

=== Under the leadership of George Papandreou ===
Nevertheless, the party was losing its traditional appeal to the Greek lower and middle [[Social class|classes]]. To revitalize the party's chances for the next elections, [[Costas Simitis]] announced his resignation as the leader of the party on 7 January 2004. He was succeeded by [[George Papandreou]], son of [[Andreas Papandreou]]. The party members were expecting that Papandreou could reverse the slide in the opinion polls which saw the opposition [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] (ND), under [[Kostas Karamanlis]], 7% ahead at the start of the year.

Although Papandreou reduced ND's lead in the polls to 3%, he was unable to reverse the view of the majority of Greek voters that PASOK had been in power too long and had grown lazy, corrupt and had abandoned the inclusive and progressive principles of economic parity on which it was founded. ND had a comfortable win at the [[2004 Greek legislative election|2004 legislative elections]] held on 7 March 2004, placing the party in opposition after eleven years in office with 40.55% share of the vote and 117 seats.

[[Image:PASOK election kiosk 2007.jpg|thumb|200px|PASOK electoral campaign kiosk in [[Athens]] in 2007]]
On 16 September 2007, New Democracy headed by [[Costas Karamanlis]] won re-election with a marginal majority of 152 seats in the [[Hellenic Parliament|Parliament]]. Despite ND's falling performance in the [[2007 Greek legislative election|2007 legislative election]], PASOK suffered a crushing defeat, registering 38.1% of the vote, its lowest percentage in almost 30 years, and 102 seats in the [[Hellenic Parliament]].

[[File:PASOK MPs in the Greek parliament during 2009 budget discussion.jpg|thumb|PASOK members of the Greek parliament during the discussion of the 2009 budget]]
The dismal result led to activation of the procedure to select a new leadership, or to reaffirm the current one. The main candidates for the leadership were the incumbent [[George Papandreou (junior)|George Papandreou]] and the Party's informal second in command, [[Evangelos Venizelos]]. [[Hellenic Parliament#Election and tenure|M.P.]] for [[Thessaloniki]]. M.P. [[Kostas Skandalidis]] also announced his candidacy in September. According to Party regulation, leaders are elected in a voting process open to all members. During the [[2007 Panhellenic Socialist Movement leadership election|leadership election of 11 November 2007]] George Papandreou was re-elected by the friends and members of the party as its leader.

[[File:Aristotelous-PASOK.png|thumb|A political rally organized by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement in [[Thessaloniki]]]]
[[File:2009 Greek legislative election - Vote Strength.svg|thumb|[[2009 Greek legislative election|Legislative election 2009]] results map. Green denotes those won by PASOK]]
In June 2009, the PASOK won the [[2009 European Parliament election in Greece]].<ref name="European election results 2009">{{cite web|url=http://ekloges-prev.singularlogic.eu/e2009/pages/index.html?lang=en|title=European election results 2009 for Greece|work=Results of the 2009 European Elections|publisher=Ministry of Internal Affairs|access-date=6 October 2009}}</ref><ref name="EP Elections 2009">{{cite news|url=http://www.ert.gr/Filia/en/news/niki-tou-pasok-kai-ypsili-apoxi.htm|title=PASOK Wins EP Elections – Abstention Rate High |date=8 June 2009|work=[[Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation|ERT]]|publisher=ert.gr|access-date=6 October 2009}} {{Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> Four months later, the Party enjoyed a resounding victory in the [[2009 Greek legislative election|October 2009 general elections]] with 43.92% of the popular vote to [[New Democracy (Greece)|ND]]'s 33.48%, and 160 parliament seats to 91.<ref name="Results 2009 Greek legislative elections">{{cite web|title=Greek legislative election, 2009 results |url=http://ekloges.ypes.gr/pages/index.html?lang=en |work=Results of the 2009 Greek legislative elections |publisher=Ministry of Internal Affairs |access-date=6 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610163929/http://ekloges.ypes.gr/pages/index.html?lang=en |archive-date=10 June 2009 }}</ref> Due to a number of defections and expulsions after 2009, by November 2011 PASOK held a slim majority of 152 of the [[Hellenic Parliament|parliament]]'s 300 seats.<ref name="Parliamentary Groups">{{cite web |url=http://www.hellenicparliament.gr/Vouleftes/Ana-Koinovouleftiki-Omada/ |title=Βουλευτές – Ανά Κοινοβουλευτική Ομάδα |trans-title=MPs – By Parliamentary Group |publisher=hellenicparliament.gr |access-date=25 August 2011}}</ref>