Greek legislative election, 1964

Greek legislative election, 1964

19 February 1964

All 300 seats to the Greek Parliament 151 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Georgios Papandreou Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Ioannis Passalidis Party ΕΚ ERE EDA Leader since 1961 1963 1951 Last election 126 seats, 42.04% 118 seats, 39.37% 43 seats, 14,34% Seats won 171 107 22 Seat change +45 -11 -21 Percentage 52.72% 35.26% 11,80% Swing +10.68% -4.11% +2.54%

PM before election Georgios Papandreou ΕΚ Subsequent PM Georgios Papandreou ΕΚ

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 16 February 1964.^[1] They resulted in a clear victory for Georgios Papandreou and his Center Union party.

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 absolute majority in the Parliament. The Greek people voted for a strong and robust government, offering the Center Union a landslide victory.

On the other hand, the National Radical Union was too weak, after Constantine Karamanlis had abandoned politics and exiled himself to Paris. The new party leader, Panagiotis Kanellopoulos formed an alliance with the Progressive Party of Spyros Markezinis, an alliance, which offered no gains to the right-wing parataxis. A year before such an alliance could have been more successful.

Another reason for the landslide victory of the Center Union was the indirect support for the centrists by the United Democratic Left (ΕΔΑ), which turned intentionally a part of its electorate towards the Center Union. It was the antipathy towards the conservatives that brought the two parties of the center-left closer.

Results

Aftermath

Just after the elections, Georgios Papandreou formed his first solid government, which would last till 1965, when a new political turmoil, the so-called Apostasia (lit. "defection"), namely a fierce confrontation with King Constantine II, caused its fall and the appointment of a series of weak governments, comprising centrist defectors and supported by the National Radical Union and King Constantine II.

The elections of 1964 were the last before the enforcement of a military dictatorship, which exploited the endless political unrest.

References

Elections and referendums in Greece
Parliamentary elections	1829 1843 1844 1847 1850 1853 1856 1859 1861 1862 1865 1868 1869 1872 1873 1874 1875 1879 1881 1885 1887 1890 1892 1895 1899 1902 1905 1906 1910 (Aug) 1910 (Nov) 1912 1915 (May) 1915 (Dec) 1920 1923 1926 1928 1929* 1932* 1933 1935 1936 1944 (PEEA) 1946 1950 1951 1952 1956 1958 1961 1963 1964 1974 1977 1981 1985 1989 (Jun) 1989 (Nov) 1990 1993 1996 2000 2004 2007 2009 2012 (May) 2012 (Jun) 2015 (Jan) 2015 (Sep) Next
Head of state elections	1862 (King) 1926 (President)
Local elections	1834 1835 1837 1841 1847 1850 1866 1870 1874 1879 1883 1887 1891 1895 1899 1903 1907 1914 1925 1929 1934 1951 1954 1959 1964 1975 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
European elections	1981 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
Referendums	1920 1924 1935 1946 1968 1973 1974 2015
* Senate elections