General election in Greece 1963

← 1961
General election 19631964 →

(Result in%)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

42.04

39.37

14.34

3.73

0.52

EK

ERE

EDA ^c

KP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1961

 % p

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

-12

+8.38

-11.44

-0.29

+3.73

-0.38

EK

ERE

EDA ^c

KP

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^c 1961: PAME

28

138

132

2

28 138 132 2 

A total of 300 seats

• EDA : 28
• EK : 138
• ERE : 132
• CP : 2

The 1963 parliamentary elections in Greece took place on November 3, 1963. The winner of the parliamentary election was Enosis Kendrou (EC, Center Union), founded by Georgios Papandreou in 1961 , which won a relative majority of the votes (42.04%) and parliamentary seats (138 seats), but failed to achieve an absolute majority (151 seats). The right-wing conservative Ethniki Rizospastiki Enosis (ERE, National Radical Union ), which has ruled uninterruptedly since 1956 , lost the absolute majority it had won in 1956, 1958 and 1961 due to a significant loss of votes (−11.44%) and the associated loss of 44 parliamentary seats. The parliamentary majorities for right-conservative parties since 1952 ended with the 1963 election. The left-wing party Eniea Dimokratiki Aristera ( Greek Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Αριστερά ΕΔΑ , Association of the Democratic Left EDA ) won 6 seats and was able to take part in the 1961 alliance Agrotiko Metopo (Pandemocratic Peasant Front) with 14.34% in 1963 compared to 14.63% in 1961.

The EK combined the previously individual parties of the center, the left conservatives and the conservative left into one party. The EPEK party founded by Nikolaos Plastiras , the Liberal Party of the post-war years founded by Sophoklis Venizelos and the Democratic Socialist Party or Liberal Democratic Union of Georgios Papandreou merged into the EC . In addition to these middle parties, the EC also included liberal conservatives such as Konstantinos Mitsotakis and Stephanos Stephanopoulos , who opposed the ERE and Karamanlis. They formed the right wing of the EK. The left wing of the party was represented by the son Georgios Papandreou: Andreas Papandreou . In this constellation, the EK was a broad-based party with a possible broad spectrum of voters from the center as well as the conservative and left-wing camps. At the same time, the party also had strong wings represented by prominent people.

The parliamentary election took place after the increased proportional representation . Here, the strongest party in terms of share of votes received more seats in parliament than it would get through the share of votes. The elections were conducted under compulsory voting. Men and women over the age of 18 were eligible to vote for the right to vote. The legal basis for the election was the laws 4173/1961 and 4322/1963 published in the Efimeris tis Kyverniseos (Official Gazette of the Government;) 104 of September 11, 1963.

The trigger for holding the parliamentary elections was the resignation of the longstanding Prime Minister and Chairman of the ERE Konstantinos Karamanlis . Karamanlis saw himself in his position weakened after continued criticism from the opposition parties EK and EDA of the manipulation of the parliamentary elections in 1961 . The EK and EDA accused the Karamanlis government of manipulating and unfair pressure from the army and the secret service KYP under the leadership of General Natsinas, a suspect of participating in the military coup of March 1951, and using the “Periklis” plan to falsify the 1961 election results in his favor to have. For example, Papandreou referred to the elections as “Ekloges tis Vias ke Nothias” (Elections of violence and fraud). The opposition boycotted both the ceremonial opening of parliament by King Paul in December 1961 and the vote of confidence in the Karamanlis government. In March 1962, a special court canceled the results of four polling stations in the Thessaloniki region because the local police commander had forced voters to vote for the ERE. The large demonstration against the government that took place three days later in Athens was violent, which led Papandreou to state that the government could "only remain in office by using force."

The murder of the FDFA MP Grigoris Lambrakis in Thessaloniki in the middle of the election campaign for the 1963 elections and the disclosure of the involvement of state security organs in the attack on Lambrakis by the examining magistrate Christos Sartzetakis intensified the criticism of Karamanlis, which was included in the allegation Papandreous' concluded that Karamanlis was the "moral instigator of the murder of Lambrakis." Immediately before the 1963 elections, the Karamanlis came into conflict with the royal family, especially the headstrong Queen Friederike, over the timing of a royal state visit to Great Britain. Karamanlis resigned as Prime Minister on June 17, 1963 and left Greece for Switzerland. A transitional government under the previous Trade Minister Panagiotis Pipinelis (ERE) prepared the elections in November 1963. The Pipinelis government could not push through the change of the electoral law in favor of the ERE. He resigned on September 29, 1963. The new Prime Minister Stylianos Mavromichalis led a transitional government until Georgios Papandreou was sworn in as Greek Prime Minister on November 8, 1963.

Karamanlis returned to Greece from Switzerland for the election campaign. After the electoral defeat of his ERE he left Greece and went into French exile in Paris until his return in 1974. Panagiotis Kanellopoulos took over the office of ERE party leader .

The Papandreou government did not last long due to the lack of an absolute majority in the EC. Papandreou won a vote of confidence in parliament on December 24, 1963 with 167 to 130 votes. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the outcome: 28 votes from the EDA had supported him in the vote of confidence. Papandreou “did not want the fate of his government to be based on the support of communists” - and resigned. A transitional government prepared new elections for February 16, 1964 .

General dates of the parliamentary elections in Greece on November 3, 1963
parameter	Voters					Seats
	1963	± 1961	% Of residents	% Eligible	% Valid	1963	± 1961	%
Registered residents at the time of the general election	8,404,080	+ 760.272	100.00%
Eligible residents (registered voters)	5,662,965	- 25,333	67.38%	100.00%
Votes cast (valid and invalid)	4,708,791	+ 68,279		83.15%
Valid votes	4,667,154	+ 46,403	99.12%	100.00%	100.00%	300	± 0	100.00%
Invalid votes	41,637	+ 21,876	0.88%
Absolute majority	2,333,578	+ 23.202				151	± 0	50.33%

Distribution of votes and seats in the parliamentary elections in Greece on November 3, 1963
Party alliance	Political party	Party leadership / Spitzenkandidat (s)	be right			Seats
			be right	% Be right	±% votes	Seats	± seats	% Seats	±% seats
Enosis Kendrou (EK) Center Union Ένωσις Κέντρου (Ε.Κ.)		Georgios Papandreou	1,962,079	42.04%	+ 42.04%	138	+138	46.00%	+46.00%
Ethniki Rizospastiki Enosis (ERE) National Radical Union Εθνική Ριζοσπαστική Ένωση (Ε. Ρ. Ε.)		Konstantinos Karamanlis	1,837,377	39.37%	−11.44%	132	−44	44.00%	−14.67%
Eniea Dimokratiki Aristera (EDA) United Democratic Left Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Αριστερά (Ε. Δ. Α.)		Ioannis Pasalidis	669.267	14.34%	+14.34% * -0.29%	28	+6	9.33%	+ 2.00%
Komma Proodeftikon (KP) Party of the Progressive Κόμμα Προοδευτικών (Κ. Π.)		Spyros Markezinis	173.981	3.73%	+ 3.73%	2	+2	0.67%	+0.67%
Christianiki Dimokratia (CD) Christian Democracy (Christian Democrats) Χριστιανική Δημοκρατία (Χ. Δ.)		Nikolaos Psaroudakis	1,267	0.03%	+0.03%	---	---	---	---
Kinima tis Dimokratias ke tou Sozialismou (KDS) Movement of Democracy and Socialism Κίνημα της Δημοκρατίας και του Σοσιαλισμού (Κ. Δ. Σ.)		Stratis Someritis , Ilias Bedimas	1,090	0.02%	+0.02%	---	---	---	---
*: This percentage difference compares the vote share of the EDA 1963 with the vote share of the electoral alliance Pandimokratiko Agrotiko Metopo (Pandemocratic Peasant Front) in the elections in 1961 , of which the EDA was a member.

swell

• Werner Voigt: Results of the elections and referendums. In: Klaus-Detlev Grothuse (Hrsg.): Südosteuropa-Handbuch. Volume III: Greece. Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1980, ISBN 3-525-36202-1 , p. 674.
• Antonis M. Pantelis, Stefanos I. Koutsoumpinas, Triantafyllos A. Gerozizis: Texts of Constitutional History. Volume 2, p. 852.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Theodore A. Couloumbis: Post World War II Greece: A Political Review. In: East European Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 3, autumn 1973, p. 285 ff.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Thomas P. Trombetas: Consensus and Cleavage: Party Alignment in Greece, 1945-1965. In: Parliamentary Affairs. 19 (3), 1966, pp. 295-311.
3. ^ Richard Clogg: History of Greece in the 19th and 20th centuries. A demolition. Romiosini Verlag, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-923889-13-7 , p. 192.
4. ^ Pavlos Tzermias: Modern Greek History. An introduction. 3rd, revised. and exp. Edition. Francke Verlag, Tübingen / Basel 1999, ISBN 3-7720-1792-4 , p. 190.
5. ^ ^{A b} Richard Clogg: History of Greece in the 19th and 20th centuries. A demolition. Romiosini Verlag, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-923889-13-7 , p. 193.
6. ^ Website of the General Secretariat of the Government of Greece (Geniki Grammatia tis Kyvernisis) on the list of ministers and terms of office of the Konstantinos Karamanlis government from 1961 to 1963 (in Greek). ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.