1961 Greek legislative election

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 Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union (ERE) party, which won 176 of the 300 seats.

1961 Greek legislative election

29 October 1961
All 300 seats in the Hellenic 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% 46 seats, 31.29% 60 seats, 24.42% Seats won 176 100 24 Seat change 5 54 36 Popular vote 2,347,824 1,555,442 675,867 Percentage 50.81% 33.66% 14.63% Swing 9.65% 2.37% 9.79%
Prime Minister before election Konstantinos Karamanlis ERE Subsequent Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis ERE

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
National Radical Union	2,347,824	50.8	176	+5
Centre Union-Progressive Party	1,555,442	33.7	100	+54
All-Democratic Agricultural Front	675,867	14.6	24	–36
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

Popular vote ERE   50.81% EK-KP   33.66% PAME   14.63% Others   0.90%

Parliament seats ERE   58.67% EK-KP   33.33% PAME   8.00%

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

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

• Clogg, Richard (1987). Parties and Elections in Greece: The Search for Legitimacy. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822307945.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)