Greek legislative election, 1963
Encyclopedia
The Greek legislative election of the 3 November 1963 resulted in a narrow victory for the Center Union
of Georgios Papandreou after three consecutive victories of Constantine Karamanlis
and his National Radical Union
party and after 11 years, during which the conservative parties (Greek Rally
and its successor, the National Radical Union
) ruled Greece
.
and his son Constantine
, according to Karamanlis' later argumentation) didn't follow the prime minister's instructions, concerning an official visit of the royal family to the United Kingdom
. The King's stance outraged Karamanlis, who submitted immediately his resignation.
was still refusing to accept the official results of the 1961 legislative elections
, the elections of "violence and fraud", according to his aggressive rhetoric. Hence, he refused to legitimise the Parliament
and he was inciting public manifestations against Karamanlis and the Palace.
In his "uncompromising struggle", Papandreou was supported by the United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ)
, which was the party that suffered the greatest losses in the 1961 legislative elections
and it had reasons to believe, that it was hurt by the alleged election fraud.
In his archives, Constantine Karamanlis
recognises limited incidents of fraud in the 1961 legislative elections
, but he insists that these incidents:
Another incident, which blackened the image of the National Radical Union
's government was the killing of the deputy of the United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ)
, Grigoris Lambrakis. Karamanlis denied any involvement of his government in the killing and he demanded the immediate intervention of the justice. Indeed the resulting investigation by Christos Sartzetakis
proved that there was no involvement of the government in the attack.
Nevertheless, the fact that some far-right fractions were proven to be guilty for the killing harmed Karamanlis, who seemed in the eyes of the public unable to control the extremists. This failure of the government was underlined by his own legendary apophthegm: "Who's governing this country?"
, whose role would be to pass a new electoral law, accepted by the main party of the opposition, and to put under control the political unrest. Nevertheless, Pipinelis' government failed to present a worthy work and it resigned, under Georgios Papandreou's arrows.
Then, the King, under the pressure of Papandreou and disregarding Karamanlis' instructions, appointed a new "neutral" interim government, which would carry out the elections. This government, fiercefully criticised by Karamanlis, was led by the president of the Court of Cassation
.
. In his later personal notes, as presented in his archives, Constantine Karamanlis
justifies his party's narrow defeat with the following arguments:
Just after the elections, Karamanlis left for Paris, with his wife. Noteworthy, he had also left for France, just after his resignation, but he returned, in order to lead his party in the elections.
rowspan=2 colspan=3 valign=top|Summary of the 3 November 1963 Greek Parliament
election results
!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"|+−
|-
|
|Center Union
|Georgios Papandreou
|align="right"|
|align="right"|42.04
|align="center"|
|align="center"|126
|align="center"|
|-
|
||National Radical Union
|Constantine Karamanlis
|align="right"|
|align="right"|39.37
|align="center"|
|align="center"|118
|align="center"|
|-
|
|United Democratic Left
|Ioannis Passalidis
|align="right"|
|align="right"|14,34
|align="center"|
|align="center"|43
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Progressive Party
|Spiros Markezinis
|align="right"|
|align="right"|3.73
|align="center"|
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Movement for Democracy and Socialism
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.02
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Christian Democracy
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.02
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Lists of Independents/Others
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.47
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Totals
|align="right"|
|align="right"|100.00
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|300
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Constituencies
|align="right"|
|align="right"|55
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|300
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Valid votes
|align="right"|4,667,154
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Invalid votes
|align="right"|41,675
|align="left"|(0.88%)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Total number of votes
|align="right"|4,708,851
|align="left"|(83,15%)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Valid electorate
|align="right"|5,662,965
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Population
|align="right"|8,404,080
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan=3|Source: Antonis M. Pantelis - Stefanos I. Koutsoumpinas - Triantafyllos A. Gerozhshs, Texts of Constitutional History, vol. 2, p. 852.
Archives of Constantine Karamanlis
|colspan=5|
|}
proposed the formation of a new interim "neutral" government, whose duty would be to conduct new elections.
On the other hand, Georgios Papandreou was outspoken about his right to form a government of himself, in order to carry out the new elections.
King Paul I followed Papandreou's instructions, giving him the order to form an interim government, whose role would be to lead the country to new elections.
Karamanlis questioned the constitutionality of the King's decision, but, instead of insisting in his opinion, he preferred to resign and leave the country. Following his proposal, the party he founded, the National Radical Union
chose Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
as his successor.
Center Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
of Georgios Papandreou after three consecutive victories of Constantine Karamanlis
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
and his National Radical Union
National Radical Union
The National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
party and after 11 years, during which the conservative parties (Greek Rally
Greek Rally
Greek Rally , Ellinikos Synagermos ) was a Greek political party founded on 6 August 1951 by former general Alexandros Papagos. The party encompassed a broad spectrum of the royalist conservative right in Greek society and was modeled on the Charles de Gaulle's Rassemblement du Peuple Français...
and its successor, the National Radical Union
National Radical Union
The National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
) ruled Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Karamanlis' resignation and the role of the Palace
The early elections were caused by Karamanlis' resignation. It was a fierce confrontation with King Paul I and the royal family that led to the fall of the right-wing government. The King (influenced by the Queen FrederikaFrederika of Hanover
Frederica of Hanover was Queen consort of the Hellenes as the wife of King Paul of Greece.-Early life:...
and his son Constantine
Constantine II of Greece
|align=right|Constantine II was King of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973, the sixth and last monarch of the Greek Royal Family....
, according to Karamanlis' later argumentation) didn't follow the prime minister's instructions, concerning an official visit of the royal family to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The King's stance outraged Karamanlis, who submitted immediately his resignation.
Karamanlis' "false steps"
The political unrest was also exacerbated by Georgios Papandreou's fierceful opposition. The leader of the Center UnionCenter Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
was still refusing to accept the official results of the 1961 legislative elections
Greek legislative election, 1961
The Greek legislative election of the 29 October 1961 resulted in the third in a row victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union party....
, the elections of "violence and fraud", according to his aggressive rhetoric. Hence, he refused to legitimise the Parliament
Hellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
and he was inciting public manifestations against Karamanlis and the Palace.
In his "uncompromising struggle", Papandreou was supported by the United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ)
United Democratic Left
The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...
, which was the party that suffered the greatest losses in the 1961 legislative elections
Greek legislative election, 1961
The Greek legislative election of the 29 October 1961 resulted in the third in a row victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union party....
and it had reasons to believe, that it was hurt by the alleged election fraud.
In his archives, Constantine Karamanlis
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
recognises limited incidents of fraud in the 1961 legislative elections
Greek legislative election, 1961
The Greek legislative election of the 29 October 1961 resulted in the third in a row victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union party....
, but he insists that these incidents:
- had not influenced the final outcome, because the National Radical UnionNational Radical UnionThe National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
had a huge lead, - had been incited by the Palace and not himself,
- the Party hurt by these incidents was the United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ)United Democratic LeftThe United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...
and not the Center UnionCenter UnionThe Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
and his leader, Georgios Papandreou, who knew about the fraud and tolerated it, believing that his party would be favored.
Another incident, which blackened the image of the National Radical Union
National Radical Union
The National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
's government was the killing of the deputy of the United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ)
United Democratic Left
The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...
, Grigoris Lambrakis. Karamanlis denied any involvement of his government in the killing and he demanded the immediate intervention of the justice. Indeed the resulting investigation by Christos Sartzetakis
Christos Sartzetakis
Christos Sartzetakis is a Greek jurist and former supreme justice of the Court of Cassation , who served as the fourth President of the Third Hellenic Republic from 1985 to 1990. He was born in Neapoli, Thessaloniki in 1929...
proved that there was no involvement of the government in the attack.
Nevertheless, the fact that some far-right fractions were proven to be guilty for the killing harmed Karamanlis, who seemed in the eyes of the public unable to control the extremists. This failure of the government was underlined by his own legendary apophthegm: "Who's governing this country?"
The interim governments
After he resigned, Karamanlis demanded immediate elections, wanting to take advantage of the timing. Nevertheless, King Paul I preferred to appoint an interim government, led by one of Karamanlis' closest colleagues, Panagiotis PipinelisPanagiotis Pipinelis
Panagiotis Pipinelis was a Greek politician and diplomat.He was born on March 21, 1899 in the port city of Piraeus. He studied Law and Political science at the University of Zurich and in 1920 at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Germany....
, whose role would be to pass a new electoral law, accepted by the main party of the opposition, and to put under control the political unrest. Nevertheless, Pipinelis' government failed to present a worthy work and it resigned, under Georgios Papandreou's arrows.
Then, the King, under the pressure of Papandreou and disregarding Karamanlis' instructions, appointed a new "neutral" interim government, which would carry out the elections. This government, fiercefully criticised by Karamanlis, was led by the president of the Court of Cassation
Court of Cassation (Greece)
The Court of Cassation is the Supreme Court of Greece for civil and criminal law. The Court of Cassation's decisions are irrevocable. If the Court of Cassation concludes that a lower court violated the law or the principles of the procedure, then it can order the rehearing of the case by the lower...
.
The outcome of the elections
Because of the slim difference of votes between the two biggest parties and, also, because of the electoral system, no party managed to have an absolute majority in the ParliamentHellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
. In his later personal notes, as presented in his archives, Constantine Karamanlis
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
justifies his party's narrow defeat with the following arguments:
- His party underestimated the people's fatigue, after so many years of National Radical UnionNational Radical UnionThe National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
's government and after so many months of political unrest. - His party had lost the right timing, which slipped away from it just after Pipinelis' government resignation and the appointment of a new interim government.
- The interim government, which conducted the elections, was not really neutral, but it favored in various backhanded ways the Center UnionCenter UnionThe Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
. - The United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ)United Democratic LeftThe United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...
favored the Center UnionCenter UnionThe Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
, convincing a limited but important number of its supporters to vote for Georgios Papandreou. - His Party should have shaped an alliance with the conservative Progressive Party of Spyros Markezinis. An agreement of this kind would have resulted in a victory of the right-wing alliance.
Just after the elections, Karamanlis left for Paris, with his wife. Noteworthy, he had also left for France, just after his resignation, but he returned, in order to lead his party in the elections.
rowspan=2 colspan=3 valign=top|Summary of the 3 November 1963 Greek Parliament
Hellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
election results
!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"|+−
|-
|
|Center Union
Center Union
The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...
|Georgios Papandreou
|align="right"|
|align="right"|42.04
|align="center"|
|align="center"|126
|align="center"|
|-
|
||National Radical Union
National Radical Union
The National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
|Constantine Karamanlis
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
|align="right"|
|align="right"|39.37
|align="center"|
|align="center"|118
|align="center"|
|-
|
|United Democratic Left
United Democratic Left
The United Democratic Left was a political party in Greece, active mostly before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.-Foundation:...
|Ioannis Passalidis
|align="right"|
|align="right"|14,34
|align="center"|
|align="center"|43
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Progressive Party
|Spiros Markezinis
Spiros Markezinis
Spyridon Markezinis or Markesinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly Prime Minister during the aborted attempt at democratization of the Greek military regime in 1973.-Early political life:Spyros Markezinis was a scion of an old wealthy family of...
|align="right"|
|align="right"|3.73
|align="center"|
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Movement for Democracy and Socialism
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.02
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Christian Democracy
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.02
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Lists of Independents/Others
|
|align="right"|
|align="right"|0.47
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Totals
|align="right"|
|align="right"|100.00
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|300
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Constituencies
|align="right"|
|align="right"|55
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|300
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Valid votes
|align="right"|4,667,154
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Invalid votes
|align="right"|41,675
|align="left"|(0.88%)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Total number of votes
|align="right"|4,708,851
|align="left"|(83,15%)
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Valid electorate
|align="right"|5,662,965
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Population
|align="right"|8,404,080
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan=3|Source: Antonis M. Pantelis - Stefanos I. Koutsoumpinas - Triantafyllos A. Gerozhshs, Texts of Constitutional History, vol. 2, p. 852.
Archives of Constantine Karamanlis
|colspan=5|
|}
Aftermath
The outcome of the elections consisted a deadlock. Hence, Constantine KaramanlisConstantine Karamanlis
Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...
proposed the formation of a new interim "neutral" government, whose duty would be to conduct new elections.
On the other hand, Georgios Papandreou was outspoken about his right to form a government of himself, in order to carry out the new elections.
King Paul I followed Papandreou's instructions, giving him the order to form an interim government, whose role would be to lead the country to new elections.
Karamanlis questioned the constitutionality of the King's decision, but, instead of insisting in his opinion, he preferred to resign and leave the country. Following his proposal, the party he founded, the National Radical Union
National Radical Union
The National Radical Union was a Greek political party formed in 1955 by Konstantinos Karamanlis out of the Greek Rally party....
chose Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a distinguished Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974....
as his successor.