View source for Union of Centrists

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{{Infobox political party
| country = Greece
| colorcode = {{Political party data|color}}
| name = Union of Centrists
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|el|Ένωση Κεντρώων}}}}<br />''Énosi Kentróon''
| abbreviation = ΕΚ
| logo = Union of Centrists logo.png
| logo_size = 245px
| leader = [[Vassilis Leventis]]
| slogan = 
| foundation = 2 March 1992
| newspaper = ''Antidiaploki''
| headquarters = 28 Karolou St.<br>122 42 [[Athens]]
| ideology = [[Venizelism]]<ref name=Nordsieck>{{cite web|url=http://parties-and-elections.eu/greece.html|title=Greece|last=Nordsieck|first=Wolfram|date=2019|website=Parties and Elections in Europe}}</ref><br>[[Social liberalism]]<ref>[https://vouliwatch.gr/parties/enosi-kentroon Vouliwatch - Ένωση Κεντρώων]</ref><br>[[Pro-Europeanism]]
| position = [[Centrism|Centre]]<ref name=Nordsieck/>
| european =
| membership_year = 
| membership = 
| youth_wing = Youth Union of Centrists
| colours          = {{colour box|{{Political party data|color}}|border=silver}} Orange
<!-- Values obtained from Wikidata; to edit, see https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q222897 -->
| seats1_title     = [[Hellenic Parliament]]
| seats1           = {{Political party data|seat composition bar|ms-lower-house}}
| seats2_title     = [[European Parliament]]
| seats2           = {{Political party data|seat composition bar|ep}}
| website = {{URL|https://enosi-kentroon.gr|enosi-kentroon.gr}}
}}

The '''Union of Centrists''' ({{langx|el|Ένωση Κεντρώων|Énosi Kentróon}}, {{IPA|el|ˈenosi cenˈdro.on|IPA}}) is a [[centrism|centrist]],<ref name=Nordsieck/> [[liberalism in Greece|liberal]]<ref name=Nordsieck/> [[List of political parties in Greece|political party]] in [[Greece]]. The leader and founder of the party is the veteran anti-corruption activist [[Vassilis Leventis]]. It strongly supports Greece in remaining an integral part of the [[European Union]].

== History ==
The party was founded by [[Vassilis Leventis]] in 1992 under the title "Union of Centrists and Ecologists" ({{langx|el|Ένωση Κεντρώων και Οικολόγων}}). The name was changed shortly after. The Union of Centrists claims to be the ideological continuation of the old party [[Centre Union]]. Previously Vassilis Leventis was a part of the [[PASOK]] party when it was launched, but Vassilis Leventis left and started the Union of Centrists because of disagreements.

The party strives to become "the political continuance of the centrist expression in Greece". Leventis aimed to become part of the [[Venizelism|Venizelist]] legacy of some Greek politicians of the past, such as [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] and [[George Papandreou (senior)]].

== Electoral support ==
{| align=right
|[[File:Antidiapl07.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A sample cover of the party's newspaper ''Antidiaploki''.]]
|}
Until 2015, the party's influence was marginal, with 1.79% of the total vote in the [[January 2015 Greek legislative election]] and no MPs being its highest achievement. In the [[September 2015 Greek legislative election]] the party cleared the 3% [[election threshold|hurdle for representation]] in the Greek Parliament with nine MPs after it won 186,457 votes (3.43%).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/09/03/greek-elections-new-poll-shows-slight-new-democracy-lead-over-syriza/|title=Greek Elections: New Poll Shows Slight New Democracy Lead Over SYRIZA| work=GreekReporter|date=3 September 2015}}</ref> Two MPs left the parliamentary group: Georgios Dimitrios Karras in November 2016 and Theodora Megaloeconomou in July 2017, the latter becoming a [[Syriza]] MP in January 2018. The party currently has no MPs.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thegreekobserver.com/politics/article/14447/centrists-union-mp-megaloeconomou-becomes-independent/|title=Centrists Union MP Megaloeconomou becomes independent| work=The Greek Observer |date=10 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://int.ert.gr/centrists-union-mp-karras-becomes-independent/|title=Centrists Union MP Karras becomes independent| work=ERT |date=30 November 2016}}</ref>

In the [[2019 Greek legislative election|2019 election]], the party did not reach the 3% threshold and thus lost representation in the [[Hellenic Parliament]].

== Election results ==
=== Hellenic Parliament ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; line-height:16px;"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="width:75px;"| Election
! colspan="5"| [[Hellenic Parliament]]
! rowspan="2" style="width:30px;"| Rank
! rowspan="2" style="width:125px;"| Government
! rowspan="2"| Leader
|-
! style="width:75px;"| Votes
! style="width:45px;"| %
! style="width:45px;"| ±[[Percentage point|pp]]
! style="width:100px;"| Seats won
! style="width:40px;"| +/−
|-
! [[1993 Greek legislative election|1993]]
| 15,926
| 0.23%
| New
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| New
| 7th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
| rowspan="13" |[[Vassilis Leventis]]
|-
! [[1996 Greek legislative election|1996]]
| 48,659
| 0.72%
| +0.49
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 7th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[2000 Greek legislative election|2000]]
| 23,218
| 0.34%
| –0.38
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 7th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[2004 Greek legislative election|2004]]
| 19,510
| 0.26%
| –0.12
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 7th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[2007 Greek legislative election|2007]]
| 20,840
| 0.29%
| +0.03
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 8th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[2009 Greek legislative election|2009]]
| 18,296
| 0.27%
| –0.02
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 11th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[May 2012 Greek legislative election|May 2012]]
| 38,313
| 0.61%
| +0.34
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 17th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[June 2012 Greek legislative election|Jun 2012]]
| 17,145
| 0.28%
| –0.33
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 14th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[January 2015 Greek legislative election|Jan 2015]]
| 110,923
| 1.79%
| +1.51
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 9th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[September 2015 Greek legislative election|Sep 2015]]
| 186,644
| 3.44%
| +1.65
| {{Infobox political party/seats|9|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{increase}} 9
| 6th
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! [[2019 Greek legislative election|2019]]
| 70,178
| 1.24%
| –2.20
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{decrease}} 9
| 9th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[May 2023 Greek legislative election|May 2023]]
| 22,449
| 0.38%
| –0.86
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 16th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
! [[June 2023 Greek legislative election|Jun 2023]]
| 14,881
| 0.29%
| –0.09
| {{Infobox political party/seats|0|300|hex={{party color|Union of Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 16th
| {{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|}

=== European Parliament ===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:100%; line-height:16px;"
|-
! colspan="9"|[[European Parliament]]
|-
! width="60" | Election
! width="75" | Votes
! width="45" | %
! width="45" | ±[[Percentage point|pp]]
! width="100" | Seats won
! width="30" | +/−
! width="30" | Rank
! Leader
! EP Group
|-
! [[1994 European Parliament election in Greece|1994]]
| 77,951
| 1.19%
| ''New''
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| ''New''
| 7th
| rowspan="7" | [[Vassilis Leventis]]
| rowspan="7" | −
|-
! [[1999 European Parliament election in Greece|1999]]
| 52,512
| 0.82%
| −0.37
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 9th
|-
! [[2004 European Parliament election in Greece|2004]]
| 34,511
| 0.56%
| −0.26
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 9th
|-
! [[2009 European Parliament election in Greece|2009]]
| 19,660
| 0.38%
| −0.18
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 14th
|-
! [[2014 European Parliament election in Greece|2014]]
| 36,879
| 0.64%
| +0.26
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 19th
|-
! [[2019 European Parliament election in Greece|2019]]
| 82,072
| 1.45%
| +0.81
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 10th
|-
! [[2024 European Parliament election in Greece|2024]]
| 10,933
| 0.27%
| –1.18
| {{Composition bar|0|21|hex={{party color|Union_of_Centrists}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| 22nd
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|https://enosi-kentroon.gr}}

{{Greek political parties}}
{{Liberalism in Greece}}

[[Category:Centrist parties in Greece]]
[[Category:Conservative liberal parties]]
[[Category:European Democratic Party]]
[[Category:Liberal parties in Greece]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1992]]
[[Category:Pro-European political parties in Greece]]
[[Category:1992 establishments in Greece]]