Ioannis Alevras
Encyclopedia
Ioannis Alevras was a Greek
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
politician and Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
.
. He was a prominent syndicalist
and a key figure in the foundation of OTOE (Federation of Bank Employee Organizations of Greece) in 1955. OTOE united all relevant trade union
s along the lines of craft unionism
with Alevras at its head for several years.
in the Greek legislative election, 1963
. His party won the elections in a narrow victory (138 seats out of 300, with the National Radical Union
having 132) and party leader George Papandreou
became Prime Minister of Greece on 8 November 1963.
Because no party had the absolute majority in the Parliament, Papandreou carried out the Greek legislative election, 1964
. Alevras successfully sought re-election while his party won the elections with a landslide majority (171 seats out of 300, with the alliance of the National Radical Union
and the Progressive Party only having 107 seats).
Alevras defended fellow Center Union MP Andreas Papandreou
, son of George, during his trial for the Aspida scandal. The Aspida Group allegedly comprised officers of the Hellenic Army
, who belonged to the centre
or the left
and wanted to assume control of an army dominated at the time by right-wing
officers who had fought in the Greek Civil War
against the left. The alleged scandal had come to public notice in 1965 and Andreas Papandreou was accused of being a member of this conspiracy.
The Aspida scandal led to the so-called Apostasia of 1965
and the fall of the Papandreou government. However the 1964 Parliament remained in place until the coup d'état
of 21 April 1967. During the resulting Greek military junta of 1967-1974
, Alevras was imprisoned for resisting the new regime.
, the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship, Alevras resumed his political career. He joined the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
(PASOK), a new Party under Andreas Papandreou, and achieved re-election in Greek legislative election, 1974
. He was one of only 12 MPs elected from his Party. PASOK came third in the elections with New Democracy
electing 220 MPs and the Center Union - New Forces
electing 60.
He was re-elected in the Greek legislative election, 1977
. This time PASOK came second with 93 MPs while New Democracy remained in government with 171 seats in Parliament. Continuing the rise of its popularity, PASOK came first in the Greek legislative election, 1981
with 171 MPs while New Democracy only elected 115. Andreas Papandreou became Prime Minister while Alevras was elected Speaker
of the Greek Parliament.
resigned, Alevras served as acting President, per the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Greece
, causing a controversy over the matter whether his duties as Speaker should be suspended during his tenure as acting President (10–30 March 1985) and if he was eligible to vote in the election
of the new President. The issue became all the more controversial, as Christos Sartzetakis
was elected with the minimum number of votes required (180 out of 300) and would have failed to be elected, were it not for Alevras' vote.
with 161 MPS while New Democracy elected 126. Papandreou remained Prime Minister and Alevras was elected Speaker for a second time. In the same year, Papandreou was indicted by Parliament in connection with the US$200 million Bank of Crete
embezzlement scandal. He was accused of helping the embezzlement by ordering state corporations to transfer their holdings to the Bank of Crete] where the interest was allegedly skimmed off to benefit PASOK.
The Greek legislative election, June 1989 which followed the scandal was inconclusive. New Democracy came first with 145 MPs and PASOK second with only 125, Alevras among them. Neither was enough to form a government by itself. New Democracy formed an alliance with third Party Coalition of the Left and Progress. Their alliance formed a government under Tzannis Tzannetakis
.
Synaspismos withdrew its support of the new government only months later. The resulting Greek legislative election, November 1989 was again inconclusive. New Democracy came first with 148 MPs and PASOK second with 128, Alevras among them. While each had won 3 more MPs that in the previous election, again none of the two could form a government alone.
The caretaker government
under Yiannis Grivas
resigned on 23 November 1989. Replaced by a coalition government under Xenophon Zolotas
. The new government included representatives of New Democracy, PASOK and Synaspismos and organized the Greek legislative election, 1990
. New Democracy came first with 150 MPs and PASOK second with 123, Alevras among them. New Democracy had enough Parliamentary support to form its own government under Party leader Constantine Mitsotakis
.
The Mitsotakis government remained in office for about three years. The heightened public irritation over the Macedonia issue with the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia
caused several ND parliament members, led by Antonis Samaras
, to withdraw their support from Mitsotakis' government and form a new political party, Political Spring
(Politiki Anoiksi). With not enough MPs to remain in office, the New Democracy government organized the Greek legislative election, 1993
.
PASOK won the elections with 170 MPs and New Democracy came second with only 111. Andreas Papandreou became Prime Minister again. Alevras was elected MP for the tenth and last time.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
politician and Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
The Speaker, properly the President of the Hellenic Parliament . The president's term coincides with the term of the assembly, and he or she is chosen by a vote during the opening session, after each legislative election. Following is a list of Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament, from the Greek...
.
Syndicalist
Before becoming a politician, Alevras was employed at the Bank of GreeceBank of Greece
The Bank of Greece is the nationalcentral bank of Greece, located in Athens on Panepistimiou Street, with several branches across the country. Founded in 1927...
. He was a prominent syndicalist
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
and a key figure in the foundation of OTOE (Federation of Bank Employee Organizations of Greece) in 1955. OTOE united all relevant trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s along the lines of craft unionism
Craft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
with Alevras at its head for several years.
Center Union MP
Alevras was first elected to Parliament as a candidate 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...
in the Greek legislative election, 1963
Greek legislative election, 1963
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 ruled...
. His party won the elections in a narrow victory (138 seats out of 300, with 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....
having 132) and party leader George Papandreou
George Papandreou (senior)
Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...
became Prime Minister of Greece on 8 November 1963.
Because no party had the absolute majority in the Parliament, Papandreou carried out the Greek legislative election, 1964
Greek legislative election, 1964
The Greek legislative election of the 19 February 1964 resulted in a clear victory for Georgios Papandreou and his Center Union party.Georgios Papandreou had formed an interim government just after the legislative elections of 1963, in order to carry out new elections, because no party had the...
. Alevras successfully sought re-election while his party won the elections with a landslide majority (171 seats out of 300, with the alliance 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....
and the Progressive Party only having 107 seats).
Alevras defended fellow Center Union MP Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
, son of George, during his trial for the Aspida scandal. The Aspida Group allegedly comprised officers of the Hellenic Army
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army , formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece.The motto of the Hellenic Army is , "Freedom Stems from Valor", from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War...
, who belonged to the centre
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
or the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
and wanted to assume control of an army dominated at the time by right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
officers who had fought in the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
against the left. The alleged scandal had come to public notice in 1965 and Andreas Papandreou was accused of being a member of this conspiracy.
The Aspida scandal led to the so-called Apostasia of 1965
Apostasia of 1965
The terms Apostasia or Iouliana or the Royal Coup are used to describe the political crisis in Greece that centred around the resignation, on 15 July 1965, of Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and the appointment, by King Constantine II, of successive Prime Ministers from Papandreou's own...
and the fall of the Papandreou government. However the 1964 Parliament remained in place until the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 21 April 1967. During the resulting Greek military junta of 1967-1974
Greek military junta of 1967-1974
The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...
, Alevras was imprisoned for resisting the new regime.
PASOK founding member
With the MetapolitefsiMetapolitefsi
The Metapolitefsi was a period in Greek history after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that includes the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship to the Greek legislative elections of 1974 and the democratic period immediately after these elections.The long...
, the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship, Alevras resumed his political career. He joined the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
(PASOK), a new Party under Andreas Papandreou, and achieved re-election in Greek legislative election, 1974
Greek legislative election, 1974
The first free elections since 1964 and after the end of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 took place in Greece on November 17, 1974 during the metapolitefsi....
. He was one of only 12 MPs elected from his Party. PASOK came third in the elections with New Democracy
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
electing 220 MPs and the Center Union - New Forces
Center Union - New Forces
Centre Union – New Forces was the continuation of the Centre Union party of George Papandreou after the military junta...
electing 60.
He was re-elected in the Greek legislative election, 1977
Greek legislative election, 1977
In the Greek legislative election, 1977, Prime Minister, Constantine Karamanlis, called for early elections. His party, New Democracy, suffered a significant loss of power, but, nevertheless, Karamanlis managed to secure an absolute majority in the Parliament. The big surprise was the success of...
. This time PASOK came second with 93 MPs while New Democracy remained in government with 171 seats in Parliament. Continuing the rise of its popularity, PASOK came first in the Greek legislative election, 1981
Greek legislative election, 1981
The Greek legislative election held on 18 October 1981 marked a new era in the modern history of Greece.Panhellenic Socialist Movement , led by Andreas Papandreou, faced New Democracy, led by Georgios Rallis. Papandreou achieved a landslide and PASOK formed the first socialistic government in the...
with 171 MPs while New Democracy only elected 115. Andreas Papandreou became Prime Minister while Alevras was elected Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the Greek Parliament.
Head of State
In 1985 after President 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.-...
resigned, Alevras served as acting President, per the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Greece
Constitution of Greece
The Constitution of Greece , was created by the Fifth Revisional Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. It has been revised three times since, most significantly in 1986, and also in 2001 and in 2008. The Constitutional history of Greece goes back to the Greek War of...
, causing a controversy over the matter whether his duties as Speaker should be suspended during his tenure as acting President (10–30 March 1985) and if he was eligible to vote in the election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
of the new President. The issue became all the more controversial, as 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...
was elected with the minimum number of votes required (180 out of 300) and would have failed to be elected, were it not for Alevras' vote.
Later political career
Later that year, PASOK won the Greek legislative election, 1985Greek legislative election, 1985
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on 2 June, 1985. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek parliament, the Voule.The ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papandreou, was re-elected, defeating the conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis ....
with 161 MPS while New Democracy elected 126. Papandreou remained Prime Minister and Alevras was elected Speaker for a second time. In the same year, Papandreou was indicted by Parliament in connection with the US$200 million Bank of Crete
Bank of Crete
Following the departure of the Ottoman forces in December 1898, the Cretan government under Eleftherios Venizelos established the Bank of Crete with the assistance of the National Bank of Greece. The bank received the exclusive privilege, for thirty years, of issuing banknotes in the island of...
embezzlement scandal. He was accused of helping the embezzlement by ordering state corporations to transfer their holdings to the Bank of Crete] where the interest was allegedly skimmed off to benefit PASOK.
The Greek legislative election, June 1989 which followed the scandal was inconclusive. New Democracy came first with 145 MPs and PASOK second with only 125, Alevras among them. Neither was enough to form a government by itself. New Democracy formed an alliance with third Party Coalition of the Left and Progress. Their alliance formed a government under Tzannis Tzannetakis
Tzannis Tzannetakis
Tzannis Tzannetakis was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989.-Biography:Tzannetakis was born in Gytheio in the region of Mani in 1927...
.
Synaspismos withdrew its support of the new government only months later. The resulting Greek legislative election, November 1989 was again inconclusive. New Democracy came first with 148 MPs and PASOK second with 128, Alevras among them. While each had won 3 more MPs that in the previous election, again none of the two could form a government alone.
The caretaker government
Caretaker government
Caretaker government is a type of government that rules temporarily. A caretaker government is often set up following a war until stable democratic rule can be restored, or installed, in which case it is often referred to as a provisional government...
under Yiannis Grivas
Yiannis Grivas
Ioannis Grivas , usually referred to as Yannis Grivas , , Greek judge, was the 87th Prime Minister of Greece who served as a non-party interim Prime Minister. Grivas was born in Kato Tithorea, Tithorea, Phthiotis in the region of Lokris. He studied law at the University of Athens and in 1954 he...
resigned on 23 November 1989. Replaced by a coalition government under Xenophon Zolotas
Xenophon Zolotas
Xenophon Zolotas , was a Greek economist and served as an interim non-party Prime Minister of Greece.-Early life and career:Born in Athens in 1904, Zolotas studied economics at the University of Athens, and later studied in Leipzig and Paris. He came from a wealthy family of goldsmiths with roots...
. The new government included representatives of New Democracy, PASOK and Synaspismos and organized the Greek legislative election, 1990
Greek legislative election, 1990
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on 8 April 1990. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek parliament, the Voule.The conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis, was elected, defeating the Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papandreou. rowspan=2 colspan=2...
. New Democracy came first with 150 MPs and PASOK second with 123, Alevras among them. New Democracy had enough Parliamentary support to form its own government under Party leader Constantine Mitsotakis
Constantine Mitsotakis
Constantine Mitsotakis , a Greek politician, was born in Chania, Crete. He came from a political family: his father and grandfathers were members of parliament, and the great liberal leader Eleftherios Venizelos was his uncle...
.
The Mitsotakis government remained in office for about three years. The heightened public irritation over the Macedonia issue with the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
caused several ND parliament members, led by Antonis Samaras
Antonis Samaras
Antonis Samaras is a Greek economist and politician who has been leader of New Democracy, Greece's major conservative party and main opposition party, since 2009. A Member of Parliament for Messenia, he was Minister of Finance in 1989, then Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1990 and again...
, to withdraw their support from Mitsotakis' government and form a new political party, Political Spring
Political Spring
Political Spring is a former Greek conservative political party founded in June 1993 by Antonis Samaras. The party was formed after Antonis Samaras broke away from the New Democracy after being dismissed as Foreign Minister over the Macedonian question....
(Politiki Anoiksi). With not enough MPs to remain in office, the New Democracy government organized the Greek legislative election, 1993
Greek legislative election, 1993
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on October 10, 1993. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek parliament, the Voule.The Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papandreou, was elected, defeating the conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis.-Results:...
.
PASOK won the elections with 170 MPs and New Democracy came second with only 111. Andreas Papandreou became Prime Minister again. Alevras was elected MP for the tenth and last time.