1958 Greek legislative election
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All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 151 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 11 May 1958.[1] The result was a second consecutive victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union party, which won 171 of the 300 seats in Parliament.
Background[]
Karamanlis took the decision to call for early elections, after some of the most prominent members of the National Radical Union defected from the party, including George Rallis and . Although Karamanlis could have a parliamentary majority, he preferred to go for elections, in order to achieve a renewed public support.
The pretext of the defection was a new electoral law that Karamanlis passed. Rallis was opposed to the law, thinking that it is going to be extremely favorable for EDA, a party believed to be linked with the then-banned Communist Party of Greece.
The outcome of the results proved that Rallis' "fears" were justified. EDA became the second biggest party, outvoting a divided centre.
Just after the elections Karamanlis formed a new government, taking back in his party the defectors.
Results[]
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
National Radical Union | 1,583,885 | 41.2 | 171 | +6 |
United Democratic Left | 939,902 | 24.4 | 79 | – |
Liberal Party | 795,445 | 20.7 | 36 | – |
Progressive Agricultural Democratic Union | 408,787 | 10.6 | 10 | New |
Union of Populars | 113,358 | 2.9 | 4 | New |
List of Independents | 4,009 | 0.1 | 0 | –2 |
Independents | 2,339 | 0.1 | 0 | –1 |
Invalid/blank votes | 16,197 | – | – | – |
Total | 3,863,922 | 100 | 300 | 0 |
Registered voters/turnout | 5,119,148 | 75.5 | – | – |
Source: Nohlen & Stöver |
Aftermath[]
The unexpected rise of EDA, barely nine years after the end of the Greek Civil War, sent alarms through the right-wing establishment, and measures were taken to combat the emergent "communist threat", including the division of the large urban electoral districts of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki so that the left-voting areas would be separated (forming the Athens B, Piraeus B, etc. constituencies), as well as the establishment of a dedicated domestic security agency, the General Directorate of National Security.
References[]
- ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- Parliamentary elections in Greece
- 1958 in Greece
- 1950s in Greek politics
- 1958 elections in Europe
- May 1958 events in Europe