Greek legislative election, 1961

Greek legislative election, 1961

29 October 1961
All 300 seats to the Greek Parliament 151 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis Georgios Papandreou Ioannis Passalidis Party ERE ΕΚ PAME Leader since 1955 1961 1951 Last election 171 seats, 41.16% - - Seats won 176 100 24 Seat change +5 +100 - Percentage 50.81% 33.66% 14.63% Swing +9.65% - -
PM before election Konstantinos Karamanlis ERE Subsequent PM Konstantinos Karamanlis ERE

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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.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
National Radical Union	2,347,824	50.8	176	+5
Centre Union-Progressive Party	1,555,442	33.7	100	New
All-Democratic Agricultural Front	675,867	14.6	24	New
List of Independents	41,550	0.9	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	20,803	–	–	–
Total	4,641,486	100	300	0
Registered voters/turnout	5,688,298	81.6	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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).

References

Sources

• Clogg, Richard (1987). Parties and Elections in Greece: The Search for Legitimacy. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822307945.