1946 Greek legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 31 March 1946.[1] The result was a victory for the United Alignment of Nationalists, an alliance that included the People's Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Reform Party,[2] which won 206 of the 354 seats in Parliament.[3] As a result Konstantinos Tsaldaris became Prime Minister leading a right-wing coalition. Nonetheless, he soon decided to resign in favor of Themistoklis Sophoulis, who led a government of national unity (conservative and centre-liberal forces) during the entire second phase of the civil war (1946–1949). One of the priorities of the new government was the proclamation of a plebiscite for the restoration of the Greek monarchy.

1946 Greek legislative election

31 March 1946

All 354 seats of the Greek Parliament
178 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Konstantinos Tsaldaris Sofoklis Venizelos
Party NPE EPE
Leader since 1946 1946
Last election 72 seats, 22.10% 11 seats, 5.01%
Seats won 206 68
Seat change 134 57
Popular vote 610,995 213,721
Percentage 55.12% 19.28%
Swing 33.02% 14.27%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Themistoklis Sofoulis Napoleon Zervas
Party Liberal EKE
Leader since 1936 1946
Last election 126 seats, 37.26% New
Seats won 48 20
Seat change 78 New
Popular vote 159,525 66,027
Percentage 14.39% 5.96%
Swing 22.87% New

Prime Minister before election

Themistoklis Sofoulis
Liberal

Elected Prime Minister

Konstantinos Tsaldaris
People's Party

The elections were marked by the boycott of the Communist Party of Greece claiming in protest against the unfolding, state-tolerated White Terror against the former members of EAM-ELAS. The night before the elections, a communist band attacked a police station in Litochoro. This event is considered the beginning of the three years civil war.

One of the reasons for the defeat of the centre-liberal parties was the division of the Liberal Party, founded by Eleftherios Venizelos. One faction remained loyal to the leadership of Themistoklis Sophoulis, while another faction followed Sophoklis Venizelos, who formed a coalition with Georgios Papandreou and Panayiotis Kanellopoulos.

Results

Party Votes % Seats
United Alignment of Nationalists[a]610,99555.12206
National Political Union[b]213,72119.2868
Liberal Party159,52514.3948
National Party of Greece66,0275.9620
Union of Nationalists32,5382.949
List of Independents12,0361.082
Union of Agrarian Parties7,4470.671
Party X1,8480.170
Civil and Agricultural Party1,1140.100
Parataxis of Orthodox Christian Greeks2980.030
Patriotic Party of Reservists630.010
Party for the National Union150.000
Socialist Party130.000
Independents2,8330.250
Invalid/blank votes13,223
Total1,121,696100354
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Global Elections Database

a Within the United Alignment the People's Party won 156 seats, the National Liberal Party 34, the Reform Party five and others 11.

b Within the National Political Union the Party of Venizelist Liberals won 31 seats, the National Unionist Party 27, the Democratic Socialist Party 7 seats and others three.

Popular vote
HPE
55.12%
EPE
19.28%
KF
14.39%
EKE
5.96%
EE
2.94%
Others
2.32%
Parliament seats
HPE
58.19%
EPE
19.21%
KF
13.56%
EKE
5.65%
EE
2.54%
Others
0.85%

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p843
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p859
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