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1961 Greek legislative election

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1961 Greek legislative election

← 1958 29 October 1961 1963 →

All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament
151 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis Georgios Papandreou Ioannis Passalidis
Party ERE EKKP PAME
Last election 41.16%, 171 seats 31.29%, 46 seats 24.42%, 60 seats
Seats won 176 100 24
Seat change Increase 5 Increase 54 Decrease 36
Popular vote 2,347,824 1,555,442 675,867
Percentage 50.81% 33.66% 14.63%
Swing Increase9.65pp Increase2.37pp Decrease9.79pp

Prime Minister before election

Konstantinos Karamanlis
ERE

Prime Minister after election

Konstantinos Karamanlis
ERE

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 29 October 1961 to elect members of the Hellenic Parliament.[1] The result was a third consecutive victory for Konstantinos Karamanlis and his National Radical Union (ERE), which won 176 of the 300 seats.

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Radical Union2,347,82450.81176+5
Centre UnionProgressive Party1,555,44233.66100+54
All-Democratic Agricultural Front675,86714.6324–36
List of Independents41,5500.9000
Total4,620,683100.003000
Valid votes4,620,68399.55
Invalid/blank votes20,8030.45
Total votes4,641,486100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,688,29881.60
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

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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. They refused to recognise the result because of the numerous cases of voter intimidation and irregularities, such as sudden massive increases in support for ERE against historical patterns and the voting by deceased persons. The Centre Union alleged that the election result had been staged by the agents of the shadowy deep 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 codenamed Pericles (Σχέδιο «Περικλής»). Although irregularities certainly occurred, the existence of Pericles was never proven, and it is uncertain that the interference in the elections had radically influenced the outcome. Nevertheless, Centre Union leader George Papandreou initiated an "unrelenting struggle" ("ανένδοτος αγών") until new and fair elections were held.[2] Thus, the 1961 elections became known in the Greek political history as the "elections of violence and fraud" (εκλογές της βίας και νοθείας).

References

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  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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