GREEK LEGISLATIVE ELECTION, 1951

The 'Greek legislative election' of the 9 September 1951 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.

Contents

Background

Outcome

Post-election

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 term that the latter would cinduct soon 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 KKE, made its first appearance in these elections.
rowspan=2 colspan=3 valign=top|Summary of the 9 September 1951 Greek Parliament election results^edit
!colspan="3" cellpadding="10" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Votes
!colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Seats
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
!No.
!% 
!align="center"|+− %
!align="center"|No.
!align="center"|+−
|-
|
|| People's Party
|Konstantinos Tsaldaris
|align="right"|
|align="right"|6.66
|align="center"|
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Greek Rally
|Alexandros Papagos
|align="right"|
|align="right"|36.53
|align="center"|
|align="center"|114
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Liberal Party
|Sophoklis Venizelos
|align="right"|
|align="right"|19.04
|align="center"|
|align="center"|57
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Democratic Socialist Party
| Georgios Papandreou
|align="right"|
|align="right"|2.10
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Rally of Farmers and Workers
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|1.23
|align="center"|
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|National Progressive Center Union
|Nikolaos Plastiras
|align="right"|
|align="right"|23.49
|align="center"|
|align="center"|74
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Socialist Party (ΕDD)
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.23
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|United Democratic Left (ΕDΑ)
|Ioannis Passalidis
|align="right"|
|align="right"|10.57
|align="center"|
|align="center"|10
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Socialists-Marxists
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.00
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Lists of Independents
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.09
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
| 
|Others
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.06
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|colspan="3"|'Totals'
|align="right"|
|align="right"|'100.00'
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan="3"|Constituencies
|align="right"|
|align="right"|41
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|'258'(250+8)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan="3"|'Valid votes'
|align="right"|'1,708,904'
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan="3"|'Invalid votes'
|align="right"|'8,108'
|align="left"|(0.47%)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan="3"|'Total number of votes'
|align="right"|'1,717,012'
|align="left"|(77,11%)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan="3"|'Valid electorate'
|align="right"|'2,224,246'
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan="3"|'Population'
|align="right"|'7,395,219'
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"| 
|-
|colspan=3|Sources: ''Texts of Constitutional History'', vol. 2, p. 835.
''Encyclopedia Dictionary "The Sun"'', Volume 15, Article: ''Nikolaos Plastiras''
|colspan=5|
|}

★

Post-election

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.