Greek legislative election, 1951

The Greek legislative election of the 9 September 1951 resulted in an ambivalent outcome, consisting a narrow and pyrrhic, as proven later, victory for the ruling center-liberal parties of Sophoklis Venizelos and Nikolaos Plastiras.

Background

After the Greek elections of 1950, when the divided centrist parties had a clear majority in the Parliament political instability was the main characteristic of the political life in Greece. The subsequent centre-liberal governments of Sophoklis Venizelos, Nikolaos Plastiras and Georgios Papandreou did not manage to ensure and enforce stability. As a result, Nikolaos Plastiras supported a People's Party government, under the term that the latter would cinduct soon elections.

Outcome

First party in the elections of 1951 was the just-founded Greek Rally of Alexandros Papagos, which swept the traditionally dominant right-wing People's Party. Nevertheless, the two major centrist-liberal parties, the Liberal Party and the National Progressive Center Union, elected more deputies than the conservatives.

The left-wing EDA, a party believed to have been affiliated with the outlaw during 1950-1974 Communist Party of Greece, made its first appearance in these elections.

election-table rowspan=2 colspan=3 valign=top|Summary of the 9 September 1951 Greek Parliament election results ^{[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Greek_parliamentary_election,_1951&action=edit edit]} !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"|+−
-|
| People's Party
Konstantinos Tsaldaris
align="right"
align="right"|6.66
align="center"
align="center"|2
align="center"
-

Greek Rally
Alexandros Papagos
align="right"
align="right"|36.53
align="center"
align="center"|114
align="center"
-

Liberal Party
Sophoklis Venizelos
align="right"
align="right"|19.04
align="center"
align="center"|57
align="center"
-

Democratic Socialist Party
Georgios Papandreou
align="right"
align="right"|2.10
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-

Rally of Farmers and Workers|
align="right"
align="right"|1.23
align="center"
align="center"|1
align="center"
-

National Progressive Center Union
Nikolaos Plastiras
align="right"
align="right"|23.49
align="center"
align="center"|74
align="center"
-

Socialist Party (ΕDD)|
align="right"
align="right"|0.23
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-

United Democratic Left (ΕDΑ)
Ioannis Passalidis
align="right"
align="right"|10.57
align="center"
align="center"|10
align="center"
-

Socialists-Marxists|
align="right"
align="right"|0.00
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-

Lists of Independents|
align="right"
align="right"|0.09
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-

Others|
align="right"
align="right"|0.06
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-
colspan="3"|Totals
align="right"
align="right"|100.00
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan="3"|Constituencies
align="right"
align="right"|41
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"|258(250+8)
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan="3"|Valid votes
align="right"|1,708,904
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan="3"|Invalid votes
align="right"|8,108
align="left"|(0.47%)
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan="3"|Total number of votes
align="right"|1,717,012
align="left"|(77,11%)
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan="3"|Valid electorate
align="right"|2,224,246
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan="3"|Population
align="right"|7,395,219
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
align="center"
align="center" bgcolor="white"|
-
colspan=3|Sources: "Texts of Constitutional History", vol. 2, p. 835.
"Encyclopedia Dictionary "The Sun", Volume 15, Article: "Nikolaos Plastiras"
colspan=5

*

Post-election

Since no party or alliance had the absolute majority in the Parliament and Alexandros Papagos refused to participate in a government of national unity, the Liberal Party and the National Progressive Center Union formed a minority government under the leadership of Nikolaos Plastiras, which lasted for about a year, since 1952, when Nikolaos Plastiras submitted his resignation and new legislative elections were proclaimed by the King Paul I.