Parliamentary elections were held in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

on 16 February 1964. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p830 They resulted in a clear victory for

Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–196 ...

and his

Center Union The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a politic ...

(EK). Papandreou subsequently formed the 37th government since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

.Milutin Tomanović (1965) ''Hronika međunarodnih događaja 1964'',

Institute of International Politics and Economics The Institute of International Politics and Economics ( sr-cyr, Институт за међународну политику и привреду) is one of the oldest research institutes in South Eastern Europe specialised in the field of inter ...

, p252 (in

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

)

Background

The government led by

Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos ( el, Παναγιώτης Κανελλόπουλος; 13 December 1902, in Patras, Achaea – 11 September 1986, in Athens) was a Greek writer, politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He w ...

of the

National Radical Union The National Radical Union ( el, Ἐθνικὴ Ῥιζοσπαστικὴ Ἕνωσις (ΕΡΕ), ''Ethnikī́ Rizospastikī́ Énōsis'' (ERE)) was a Greek political party formed in 1956 by Konstantinos Karamanlis, mostly out of the Greek Rall ...

(ERE) resigned on 25 September 1963, after which Papandreou formed an interim government on 28 September. As no party had a majority in the Hellenic Parliament, Papandreou's government initiated preparations for elections on 3 November. Although the Center Union emerged as the largest party, which allowed Papandreou to form a new government, it also soon resigned. King Paul accepted Papandreou's resignation on 31 December 1963, and

Ioannis Paraskevopoulos Ioannis Paraskevopoulos ( el, Ιωάννης Παρασκευόπουλος) (25 December 1900 – 8 April 1984), was a Greek banker and politician who served twice as interim Prime Minister of Greece during the 1960s. He was born in Lavda, Elis ...

formed an interim government to serve until the 1964 elections. The ERE had been weakened prior to the elections when Konstantinos Karamanlis abandoned politics and exiled himself in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The new ERE leader, Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, formed an alliance with the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

Spyros Markezinis Spyridon "Spyros" Markezinis (or Markesinis; ; 22 April 1909 – 4 January 2000) was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly the Prime Minister of Greece during the aborted attempt at metapolitefsi (democ ...

Campaign

One of the main messages carried by Papandreou was the goal of establishing a "real democracy". On several occasions Papandreou accused Kanellopoulos of copying his political promises, while also arguing that these promises were not consistent with the policies carried out by ERE when they were in power. A big part of the political discourse between ERE and the Centre Union was in regard to the relations each party had with the left. ERE claimed that Papandreou was supported by EDA, while the Centre Union supporting newspapers accused a number of ERE politicians of being former members of EAM. On 13 February, during a campaign speech in Athens, Kanellopoulos stated "Mr Papandreou's Democracy is based on the votes of those who seek to overturn freedom... ... Mr Papandreou is not an active comrade of EDA, but he has allowed EDA to consider him their comrade", while also stating that there were only two worlds, democracy and totalitarianism. In a campaign speech in front of what the press called an "endless crowd of people", Papandreou stated "Democracy has won. Long live Democracy... this election isn't just about a choice between two parties. It's about a choice between two worlds. The world of decay and the world of regeneration The ERE government lead us to a right wing totalitarianism. It wasn't a democracy, it was a corrupted, party based, totalitarian police state. There was only a democracy "facade"... we fought... and democracy was restored in its ancient birthplace." The EDA claimed that during Papandreou's brief time as prime minister, he kept the "right wing establishment" intact. The EDA's proposals included the legalization of the Communist Party of Greece, the release of political prisoners and the official recognition of the Greek resistance.

Results

These elections marked the first time

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...

stood as a candidate, amassing the largest amount of votes and taking the position of Minister to the First Ministry of State.

Aftermath

After the results were announced, Papandreou stated "the election results have vindicated our ambitions" while Kanellopoulos conceded, stating "The Greek people have assigned ERE with the role of the opposition, their will is venerable". Shortly after the elections, Papandreou formed his first solid government, which would last till 1965. However, in 1965 the apostasia crisis, a confrontation between Papandreou and

King Constantine II Constantine II ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Βʹ, ''Konstantínos II''; 2 June 1940) reigned as the last King of Greece, from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973. Constantine is the only son of King Paul an ...

, caused the government to fall. It was replaced by a series of weak governments, comprising centrist defectors and supported by the National Radical Union and Constantine. This eventually led to a military dictatorship starting in 1967, which exploited the endless political unrest.

References

{{Greek elections Parliamentary elections in Greece

Legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

1960s in Greek politics

Georgios Papandreou

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...