1951 Greek legislative election

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.

1951 Greek legislative election

9 September 1951

All 258 seats of the Greek Parliament
130 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Alexandros Papagos Nikolaos Plastiras
Party ES EPEK
Leader since 1951 1949
Last election New 45 seats, 16.45%
Seats won 114 74
Seat change New 29
Popular vote 624,316 401,379
Percentage 36.53% 23.49%
Swing New 7.04%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Sofoklis Venizelos Ioannis Passalidis
Party Liberal EDA
Leader since 1948 1951
Last election 56 seats, 17.24% New
Seats won 57 10
Seat change 1 New
Popular vote 325,390 180,640
Percentage 19.04% 10.57%
Swing 1.80% New

Prime Minister before election

Sofoklis Venizelos
Liberal

Elected Prime Minister

Nikolaos Plastiras
EPEK

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 Rally624,31636.5114New
National Progressive Center Union401,37923.574+29
Liberal Party325,39019.057+1
United Democratic Left180,64010.610–8
People's Party113,8766.72–60
Georgios Papandreou Party35,8102.10–35
Agricultural and Labour Party21,0091.21New
Socialist Party of Greece3,9120.20New
List of Independents1,5540.100
Communist Archio-Marxist Party of Greece1,1480.10New
Independents9650.100
Invalid/blank votes8,108
Total1,717,107100258+8
Registered voters/turnout2,224,24677.2
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Popular vote
ES
36.53%
EPEK
23.49%
KF
19.04%
EDA
10.57%
LK
6.66%
KGP
2.10%
AEK
1.23%
Others
0.38%
Parliament seats
ES
44.19%
EPEK
28.68%
KF
22.09%
EDA
3.88%
LK
0.78%
AEK
0.39%

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 legislative 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
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