Greek legislative election, 1981 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Greek legislative election held on 18 October 1981 marked a new era in the modern history of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

Panhellenic Socialist Movement

Panhellenic Socialist Movement

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...

(PASOK), led by Andreas Papandreou

Andreas Papandreou

Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...

, faced New Democracy

New Democracy (Greece)

New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...

, led by Georgios Rallis. Papandreou achieved a landslide and PASOK formed the first socialistic government in the history of Greece. (In 1963 Centrists had formed a government under the leadership of George Papandreou

George Papandreou (senior)

Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...

, Andreas' father, but their party, Center Union

Center Union

The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...

, was not a socialistic party but a centrist, socio-liberal one).

185 of the 300 seats were won by PASOK or the Communist Party

Communist Party of Greece

Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...

: both openly eurosceptic

Euroscepticism

Euroscepticism is a general term used to describe criticism of the European Union , and opposition to the process of European integration, existing throughout the political spectrum. Traditionally, the main source of euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state...

. This was the high point of Greek euroscepticism, coming just ten months before Greek accession to the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

.

rowspan=2 colspan=3 valign=top|Summary of the 18 October 1981 Greek Parliament

Hellenic Parliament

The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....

election results

Greek legislative election, 1981

The Greek legislative election held on 18 October 1981 marked a new era in the modern history of Greece.Panhellenic Socialist Movement , led by Andreas Papandreou, faced New Democracy, led by Georgios Rallis. Papandreou achieved a landslide and PASOK formed the first socialistic government in the...

Panhellenic Socialist Movement

|Andreas Papandreou

Andreas Papandreou

|align="right"|2,726,309
|align="right"|48.07%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|172
|align="center"|+79
|-
| style="background-color:"|
|New Democracy

New Democracy (Greece)

Communist Party of Greece

Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...

Spiros Markezinis

Spyridon Markezinis or Markesinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly Prime Minister during the aborted attempt at democratization of the Greek military regime in 1973.-Early political life:Spyros Markezinis was a scion of an old wealthy family of...

|align="right"|95,799
|align="right"|1.68%
|align="center"|New
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|New
|-
|
|KKE Interior
|Leonidas Kyrkos

Leonidas Kyrkos

Leonidas Kyrkos was a Greek leftist politician and member of the Hellenic Parliament and the European Parliament.-Life:...

|align="right"|76,404
|align="right"|1.34%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|−2
|-
|
|Party of Democratic Socialism (ΚΟΔΗΣΟ) - KAE

Peasants and Workers Party

Peasants and Workers Party was a political party in Greece. The party was allied with the Party of Democratic Socialism , the party contested the 1981 parliamentary election on a joint ticket with KODISO. The KODISO-KAE ticket got 40,126 votes . The alliance did however fare much better in the...

|
|align="right"|40,126
|align="right"|0.71%
|align="center"|New
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|New
|-
| style="background-color:"|
|Union of the Democratic Centre
|Ioannis Zidgis
|align="right"|23,064
|align="right"|0.40%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|−16
|-
|style="background-color:skyblue"|
|Liberal Party

Liberal Party (Greece)

The Liberal Party was one of the major Greek political parties of the early 20th century.- History :Founded as the Xipoliton party in Crete , its early leaders were Kostis Mitsotakis and Eleftherios Venizelos...

Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece

The Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece is a communist political party in Greece.-Alliances:...

(EKKE)
|
|align="right"|4,700
|align="right"|0.07%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|EDE - Trotskyists
|
|align="right"|1,646
|align="right"|0.02%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|DKE
|
|align="right"|1,100
|align="right"|0.01%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|
|Others
|
|align="right"|10,534
|align="right"|0.35%
|align="center"|
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|
|-
|colspan="3"|No. of valid votes
|align="right"|5,671,057
|align="center"|100.00
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|align="center"|300
|align="center" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Invalid votes
|align="right"|82,421
|colspan="4" rowspan="2" bgcolor="white"|
|-
|colspan="3"|Total
|align="right"|
(%)
|-
|colspan=7|Sources: Greek Interior Ministry website; "Archives of Constantinos Karamanlis" [Vol. 12A]
|colspan=7|
|}

Post-election

Papandreou's new government introduced several interesting reforms in the wake of its victory (legalization of civil wedding, new family law, nationalization of certain private companies, etc.).

The main opposition party, New Democracy, faced serious internal conflicts. Georgios Rallis was forced to resign after the defeat and he was succeeded by Evangelos Averoff

Evangelos Averoff

Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas was a distinguished right-wing Greek politician of Aromanian origin and author of several books on political and historical topics....

, former minister under Karamanlis governments. In 1984 Averof resigned because of health problems and Konstantinos Mitsotakis became the new leader of New Democracy. Noteworthy, Mitsotakis and Papandreou were both centrists before 1967 and they belonged to the same party, George Papandreou's Center Union

Center Union

The Centre Union was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister...

. Nevertheless, they were strong opponents and they never liked each other. Papandreou was calling Mitsotakis "a defector, an apostate

Apostasia of 1965

The terms Apostasia or Iouliana or the Royal Coup are used to describe the political crisis in Greece that centred around the resignation, on 15 July 1965, of Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and the appointment, by King Constantine II, of successive Prime Ministers from Papandreou's own...

", because in 1965 he defected from the ruling Center Union and participated in a new government pleasing to Constantine II

Constantine II of Greece

|align=right|Constantine II was King of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973, the sixth and last monarch of the Greek Royal Family....

, who had just accepted George Papandreou's resignation after a serious disagreement between the King and the prime minister.

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