The election campaign was formally lunched Saturday when the chief of Parliament police posted the presidential decree dissolving Parliament on one of the building’s entrances.

Besides the date of the elections, May 21, the degree states that the new Parliament will be convened on Thursday, June 1.

Despite the fact that less than three months are left for the conclusion of the Parliament’s four-year term, the decree of its dissolution invokes a constitutional clause basing the dissolution on the need to “face a national issue of special importance,” which President Katerina Sakellaropoulou has excepted. This clause has often served as a pretext for an early election. In fact, the timing of elections, despite what the Constitution provides for, has always been left to the discretion of the Prime Minister of the day.