Greek legislative election, 1951

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.

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 Rally	624,316	36.5	114	New
National Progressive Center Union	401,379	23.5	74	+29
Liberal Party	325,390	19.0	57	+1
United Democratic Left	180,640	10.6	10	New
People's Party	113,876	6.7	2	–60
Georgios Papandreou Party	35,810	2.1	0	–35
Agricultural and Labour Party	21,009	1.2	1	New
Socialist Party of Greece	3,912	0.2	0	New
List of Independents	1,554	0.1	0	0
Communist Archio-Marxist Party of Greece	1,148	0.1	0	New
Independents	965	0.1	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	8,108	–	–	–
Total	1,717,107	100	258	+8
Registered voters/turnout	2,224,246	77.2	–	–
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. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7