Greek legislative election, 1961

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Greek legislative election, 1961
Flag of Greece (1822-1978).svg
  1958 29 October 1961 1963  

All 300 seats to the Greek Parliament
151 seats were needed for a majority

 First partySecond partyThird party
  KaramanlisNatsinasAgora crop.jpg Georgios A. Papandreou 1.jpg Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg
Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis Georgios Papandreou Ioannis Passalidis
Party ERE ΕΚ PAME
Leader since195519611951
Last election171 seats, 41.16%New60 seats, 24.42%
Seats won17610024
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 5NewDecrease2.svg 36
Popular vote2,347,8241,555,442675,867
Percentage50.81%33.66%14.63%
SwingIncrease2.svg 9.65%NewDecrease2.svg 9.79%

Prime Minister before election

Konstantinos Karamanlis
ERE

Subsequent Prime Minister

Konstantinos Karamanlis
ERE

Coat of Arms of Greece (Monochromatic).svg
This article is part of a series on the
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Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 29 October 1961. [1] The result was a third consecutive victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union (ERE) party, which won 176 of the 300 seats in Parliament.

Greece republic in Southeast Europe

Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, self-identified and historically known as Hellas, is a country located in Southern and Southeast Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2016. Athens is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki.

The National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1956 by Konstantinos Karamanlis, mostly out of the Greek Rally party.

Contents

Results

Greek legislative election, 1961.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Radical Union 2,347,82450.8176+5
Centre Union-Progressive Party 1,555,44233.7100New
All-Democratic Agricultural Front 675,86714.624New
List of Independents 41,5500.900
Invalid/blank votes20,803
Total4,641,4861003000
Registered voters/turnout5,688,29881.6
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Popular vote
ERE
50.81%
EK-KP
33.66%
PAME
14.63%
Others
0.90%
Parliament seats
ERE
58.67%
EK-KP
33.33%
PAME
8.00%

Aftermath

The elections were quickly denounced by both main opposition parties, the leftist United Democratic Left (campaigning as part of the All-Democratic Agricultural Front) and the Centre Union, who refused to recognise the result based on numerous cases of voter intimidation and irregularities, such as sudden massive increases in support for ERE against historical patterns, or the voting by deceased persons. The Centre Union alleged that the election result had been staged by the agents of the shadowy "para-state" (παρακράτος), including the army leadership, the Greek Central Intelligence Service, and the notoriously right-wing National Guard Defence Battalions, according to a prepared emergency plan code-named Pericles (Σχέδιο «Περικλής»). Although irregularities certainly occurred, the existence of Pericles was never proven, nor is it certain that the interference in the elections radically influenced the outcome. Nevertheless, Centre Union leader George Papandreou initiated an "unrelenting struggle" ("ανένδοτος αγών") until new and fair elections were held. [2] Hence the elections of 1961 became known in the Greek political history as the "elections of violence and fraud" (εκλογές της βίας και νοθείας).

United Democratic Left Greek political party (1951–1977)

The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967–74.

The All-Democratic Agricultural Front (PAME) was an electoral left-wing coalition which was formed to contest the 1961 Greek legislative election. The coalition elected 24 MPs.

The National Guard Defence Battalions or TEA were a paramilitary internal security organization active in Greece between 1948 and 1982, under the control of the Defence Ministry.

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References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Clogg 1987, pp. 42–43.

Sources

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