1951 Greek parliamentary election

1951 Greek parliamentary election

←  1950 9 September 1951 1952  →
All 258 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 130 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alexandros Papagos Nikolaos Plastiras Sofoklis Venizelos Party Greek Rally EPEK Liberal Last election – 16.45%, 45 seats 17.24%, 56 seats Seats won 114 74 57 Seat change New 29 1 Popular vote 624,316 401,379 325,390 Percentage 36.53% 23.49% 19.04% Swing New 7.04pp 1.80pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ioannis Passalidis Konstantinos Tsaldaris Alexandros Baltatzis Party EDA People's AEK Last election – 18.79%, 62 seats – Seats won 10 2 1 Seat change New 60 New Popular vote 180,640 113,876 21,009 Percentage 10.57% 6.66% 1.23% Swing New 12.13pp New
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Sofoklis Venizelos Liberal Prime Minister after election Nikolaos Plastiras EPEK

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 9 September 1951. ^[1] They resulted in an ambivalent outcome, consisting a narrow and pyrrhic, as proven later, victory for the ruling center-liberal parties of Sophoklis Venizelos and Nikolaos Plastiras.

Background

After the Greek elections of 1950, when the divided centrist parties had a clear majority in the Parliament political instability was the main characteristic of the political life in Greece. The subsequent centre-liberal governments of Sophoklis Venizelos, Nikolaos Plastiras and Georgios Papandreou did not manage to ensure and enforce stability. As a result, Nikolaos Plastiras supported a People's Party government, under the terms that the latter would soon conduct elections.

Outcome

First party in the elections of 1951 was the just-founded Greek Rally of Alexandros Papagos, which swept the traditionally dominant right-wing People's Party. Nevertheless, the two major centrist-liberal parties, the Liberal Party and the National Progressive Center Union, elected more deputies than the conservatives.

The left-wing EDA, a party believed to have been affiliated with the outlaw during 1950-1974 Communist Party of Greece, made its first appearance in these elections.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Greek Rally	624,316	36.53	114	New
	National Progressive Center Union	401,379	23.49	74	+29
	Liberal Party	325,390	19.04	57	+1
	United Democratic Left	180,640	10.57	10	–8
	People's Party	113,876	6.66	2	–60
	Georgios Papandreou Party	35,810	2.10	0	–35
	Agricultural and Labour Party	21,009	1.23	1	New
	Socialist Party of Greece	3,912	0.23	0	New
	List of Independents	1,554	0.09	0	0
	Communist Archio-Marxist Party	53	0.00	0	New
	Independents	965	0.06	0	0
Total		1,708,904	100.00	258	+8
Valid votes		1,708,904	99.53
Invalid/blank votes		8,108	0.47
Total votes		1,717,012	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,224,246	77.20
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Hellenic Parliament

Aftermath

Since no party or alliance had the absolute majority in the Parliament and Alexandros Papagos refused to participate in a government of national unity, the Liberal Party and the National Progressive Center Union formed a minority government under the leadership of Nikolaos Plastiras, which lasted for about a year, since 1952, when Nikolaos Plastiras submitted his resignation and new parliamentary elections were proclaimed by the King Paul I.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7