Although the Democratic Union, a coalition of centrist parties, received a slim plurality of votes, the conservative governing party, the National Radical Union, won the most seats due to a complex and controversial electoral system enacted by Karamanlis. A "first past the post" system was applied in the rural constituencies where the ERE was expected to gain a plurality, while proportional representation was reserved for the urban constituencies, where the Democratic Union was expected to lead.[2][3] As a result, the Democratic Union came up 19 seats short of a majority.
The Democratic Union included centrist parties, as the Liberal Democratic Union led by Sophoklis Venizelos and the Liberal Party of Georgios Papandreou, as well as the left-wing EDA, led by Ioannis Passalidis. A few years later, Sophoklis Venizelos and Georgios Papandreou renounced their alliance with EDA, breaking up the Democratic Union.
Background
In 1955, Karamanlis was chosen by the King Paul I as successor of prime minister General Alexandros Papagos, who had just died. The decision was controversial, as Karamanlis was not a leading member of Papagos' party, and caused the vehement reactions of the party's two most prominent members, Stefanos Stefanopoulos and Panagiotis Kanellopoulos.
Nevertheless, Karamanlis, thanks to the support of the royal family and his own dexterous handlings, managed to establish himself as a strong leader. After stabilizing his leadership, he dissolved the Greek Rally party and created his own conservative right-wing party, the National Radical Union, which also comprised some prominent centrists (Evangelos Averoff, Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Konstantinos Tsatsos) and went on to dominate the Greek political scene for the next 8 years.
^Grilla, Michael (2007-05-22). . www.eleftheria.gr. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
^. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
August 24, 2023
1956, greek, legislative, election, parliamentary, elections, were, held, greece, february, 1956, result, victory, konstantinos, karamanlis, national, radical, union, securing, electoral, vote, despite, trailing, popular, vote, gerrymandering, employed, first,. Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 19 February 1956 1 The result was a victory for Konstantinos Karamanlis and his National Radical Union ERE by securing the electoral vote despite trailing in the popular vote due to gerrymandering employed by ERE It was the first general election in Greece in which women had the right to vote although women had first voted in a by election in Thessaloniki Prefecture in 1953 in which the first female MP was elected 1956 Greek legislative election 1952 19 February 1956 1958 All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament151 seats needed for a majority First party Second party Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis Georgios PapandreouParty ERE DESeats won 165 132Popular vote 1 594 112 1 620 007Percentage 47 38 48 15 Prime Minister before electionKonstantinos KaramanlisERE Prime Minister after election Konstantinos KaramanlisEREAlthough the Democratic Union a coalition of centrist parties received a slim plurality of votes the conservative governing party the National Radical Union won the most seats due to a complex and controversial electoral system enacted by Karamanlis A first past the post system was applied in the rural constituencies where the ERE was expected to gain a plurality while proportional representation was reserved for the urban constituencies where the Democratic Union was expected to lead 2 3 As a result the Democratic Union came up 19 seats short of a majority The Democratic Union included centrist parties as the Liberal Democratic Union led by Sophoklis Venizelos and the Liberal Party of Georgios Papandreou as well as the left wing EDA led by Ioannis Passalidis A few years later Sophoklis Venizelos and Georgios Papandreou renounced their alliance with EDA breaking up the Democratic Union Background EditIn 1955 Karamanlis was chosen by the King Paul I as successor of prime minister General Alexandros Papagos who had just died The decision was controversial as Karamanlis was not a leading member of Papagos party and caused the vehement reactions of the party s two most prominent members Stefanos Stefanopoulos and Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Nevertheless Karamanlis thanks to the support of the royal family and his own dexterous handlings managed to establish himself as a strong leader After stabilizing his leadership he dissolved the Greek Rally party and created his own conservative right wing party the National Radical Union which also comprised some prominent centrists Evangelos Averoff Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Konstantinos Tsatsos and went on to dominate the Greek political scene for the next 8 years Results EditPartyVotes SeatsDemocratic Union1 620 00748 15132National Radical Union1 594 11247 38165Progressive Party74 5452 220List of Independents31 0220 922Popular Social Party29 3750 870Christian Democracy4490 010Independents14 8510 441Total3 364 361100 00300Valid votes3 364 36199 55Invalid blank votes15 0840 45Total votes3 379 445100 00Registered voters turnout4 507 90774 97Source Ministry of the Interior Nohlen amp StoverReferences Edit Dieter Nohlen amp Philip Stover 2010 Elections in Europe A data handbook p830 ISBN 978 3 8329 5609 7 Grilla Michael 2007 05 22 O eklogikos nomos www eleftheria gr Archived from the original on 2007 09 27 Retrieved 2022 12 07 To Bhma newspaper 12 Nov 2000 Dhmokratia Diatrhth In Greek Archived from the original on 2007 09 29 Retrieved 2007 08 26 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1956 Greek legislative election amp oldid 1155747385, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
