- Greek legislative election, 1981
The Greek legislative election held on
18 October 1981 marked a new era in the modern history ofGreece .Andreas Papandreou andPASOK faced New Democracy andGeorge 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, Andreas' father, but their party,Center Union , was not a socialistic party but a centrist, socio-liberal one). election-table rowspan=2 colspan=3 valign=top|Summary of the 18 October 1981 Greek Parliament election results!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"|+−
-|Panhellenic Socialist Movement Andreas Papandreou
align="right"|2,726,309
align="right"|48.07%
align="center"
align="center"|172
align="center"
-|
New DemocracyGeorge Rallis
align="right"|2,034,496
align="right"|35.87%
align="center"
align="center"|115
align="center"
-|Communist Party of Greece Harilaos Florakis
align="right"|620,302
align="right"|10.93%
align="center"
align="center"|13
align="center"
-|
Progressive PartySpiros Markezinis
align="right"|95,799
align="right"|1.68%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|KKE Interior Leonidas Kyrkos
align="right"|76,404
align="right"|1.34%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|
Party of Democratic Socialism (ΚΟΔΗΣΟ) - KAE|
align="right"|40,126
align="right"|0.71%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|
Union of the Democratic CentreIoannis Zidgis
align="right"|23,064
align="right"|0.40%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|
Liberal Party|
align="right"|20,645
align="right"|0.36%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|
Christian Democracy|
align="right"|8,638
align="right"|0.15%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|
Movement for a Revolutionary Left|
align="right"|6,595
align="right"|0.11%
align="center"
align="center"|-
align="center"
-|Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece (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: [http://www.ypes.gr/ekloges/content/gr/ethnik_fr.htm Greek Interior Ministry website] ; "Archives of Constantinos Karamanlis" [Vol. 12A]
colspan=7Post-election
After the formation of the new government,
Andreas Papandreou appeased the conservative President of the Republic and founder of New Democracy,Constantine Karamanlis , and assured him that he will follow a moderate policy as far as foreign affairs are concerned. Thus, despite his radical rhetoric before the elections, Papandreou did not remove Greece fromNATO and theEU . At the same time, the prime minister found a certain modus vivendi with Karamanlis. In internal affairs, Papandreou's government introduced several interesting reforms (legalization of civil wedding, new family law, nationalization of certain private companies, etc.).The main opposition party, New Democracy, faced serious internal conflicts.
George Rallis was forced to resign after the defeat and he was succeeded byEvangelos Averoff , former minister under Karamanlis governments. In 1984 Averof resigned because of health problems andKonstantinos 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'sCenter Union . Nevertheless, they were strong opponents and they never liked each other. Papandreou was calling Mitsotakis "a defector, an apostate", because in 1965 he defected from the ruling Center Union and participated in a new government pleasing to Constantine II, who had just accepted George Papandreou's resignation after a serious disagreement between the King and the prime minister.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.