1974 Greek parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 17 November 1974. They were the first after the end of the military junta of 1967–1974, and took place during the metapolitefsi era. The winner was Konstantinos Karamanlis and his newly formed conservative party, New Democracy. Karamanlis had already formed a government of national unity just after the fall of the dictatorship. The second-largest party was the centrist Centre Union – New Forces. The third party in the Parliament became the newly formed PASOK, a radical socialist party led by Andreas Papandreou, son of the former Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou.

1974 Greek parliamentary election

17 November 1974
All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 151 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis Georgios Mavros Party ND ΕΚ–ND Last election 35.26%, 107 seats 52.72%, 171 seats Seats won 220 60 Seat change 113 111 Popular vote 2,669,133 1,002,559 Percentage 54.37% 20.42% Swing 19.11 pp 32.30 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Andreas Papandreou Ilias Iliou Party PASOK EA Last election – 11.80%, 22 seats Seats won 12 8 Seat change New 14 Popular vote 666,413 464,787 Percentage 13.58% 9.47% Swing New 2.33 pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Konstantinos Karamanlis ND Prime Minister after election Konstantinos Karamanlis ND

Electoral system

The members of the Hellenic Parliament were elected via open list proportional representation in 56 multi-member constituencies using the Hagenbach-Bischoff system.

Additionally, 5% of seats (in this case, 12) were reserved for "state deputies" nominated by the parties, who neither belonged to a particular constituency nor competed for election. These seats were allocated proportionally between the parties.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	New Democracy	2,669,133	54.37	220
	Centre Union – New Forces	1,002,559	20.42	60
	Panhellenic Socialist Movement	666,413	13.58	12
	United Left	464,787	9.47	8
	National Democratic Union	52,768	1.07	0
	Democratic Centre Union	8,509	0.17	0
	Revolutionary Communist Movement	1,539	0.03	0
	Liberal Democratic Union–Socialist Party	975	0.02	0
	Independents	42,291	0.86	0
Total		4,908,974	100.00	300
Valid votes		4,908,974	98.90
Invalid/blank votes		54,584	1.10
Total votes		4,963,558	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,241,066	79.53
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By constituency

Constituency	ND		EK-ND		PASOK		EA
	%	±	%	±	%	±	%	±
Achaea	52.01	19.37	14.29	43.55	24.81	New	8.13	1.37
Aetolia-Akarnania	59.88	22.50	15.52	37.48	15.83	New	7.02	2.59
Argolis	68.03	18.84	12.91	37.80	15.63	New	1.93	New
Arkadia	65.15	17.14	21.93	30.04	9.42	New	2.69	New
Arta	64.70	9.57	11.86	38.00	15.38	New	4.85	New
Athens A	54.02	17.21	20.11	25.97	11.68	New	12.73	4.25
Athens B	46.58	19.67	21.27	27.08	13.17	New	17.82	6.62
Attica	62.67	26.36	17.28	37.53	11.94	New	7.08	1.78
Boeotia	59.81	30.18	15.41	54.90	15.57	New	6.20	New
Cephalonia	57.54	21.37	22.18	41.40	7.75	New	12.12	New
Chalkidiki	66.49	21.28	16.46	38.32	12.10	New	4.44	New
Chania	15.26	6.68	37.91	38.69	18.11	New	9.50	5.30
Chios	53.19	19.06	29.28	36.57	10.89	New	5.98	New
Corfu	48.27	9.80	18.66	26.69	22.49	New	10.09	6.06
Corinthia	63.78	17.57	14.42	39.36	17.96	New	2.87	New
Cyclades	62.91	9.32	23.81	22.51	10.44	New	2.01	New
Dodecanese	45.35	13.61	16.98	51.27	21.01	New	2.39	New
Drama	58.57	18.46	15.67	36.34	17.88	New	4.51	3.35
Elis	53.23	22.41	27.81	41.36	14.78	New	2.60	New
Euboea	58.62	19.35	21.91	32.47	14.19	New	4.57	1.67
Evros	63.97	22.05	19.06	29.26	11.51	New	4.15	5.41
Evrytania	64.28	23.19	20.73	38.17	13.14	New	1.84	New
Florina	70.63	20.46	18.51	24.94	5.97	New	4.04	New
Grevena	59.31	18.21	21.40	26.82	13.47	New	5.39	4.94
Heraklion	26.25	10.54	38.74	35.35	27.80	New	6.97	3.22
Imathia	54.92	24.15	20.64	33.18	15.63	New	8.35	7.04
Ioannina	62.02	25.33	19.94	27.31	9.63	New	7.74	5.31
Karditsa	52.55	18.42	18.99	35.21	13.26	New	8.59	3.07
Kastoria	63.39	9.11	22.07	23.64	4.66	New	1.64	New
Kavala	56.99	24.72	17.97	32.01	11.54	New	11.63	6.11
Kilkis	57.28	16.24	15.62	25.20	12.09	New	10.46	7.66
Kozani	62.32	19.13	19.00	27.00	12.15	New	5.52	4.83
Laconia	76.04	12.14	12.92	23.16	7.06	New	3.04	New
Larissa	53.66	25.78	20.35	32.40	13.37	New	11.88	7.47
Lasithi	30.25	16.68	45.99	40.43	20.40	New	2.13	New
Lefkada	46.96	12.91	18.22	13.30	6.68	New	27.14	7.28
Lesbos	42.88	26.89	16.77	32.67	15.14	New	24.54	5.03
Magnesia	51.45	23.96	25.22	28.28	8.49	New	14.82	4.17
Messenia	62.56	12.74	17.30	26.92	13.54	New	4.44	1.51
Pella	60.57	25.56	16.26	39.81	17.00	New	4.78	4.13
Phocis	66.43	22.52	18.61	37.47	8.49	New	3.79	New
Phthiotis	65.54	22.21	20.63	35.93	7.76	New	4.53	New
Pieria	63.02	23.51	17.34	33.03	11.73	New	6.98	3.13
Piraeus A	54.29	18.99	19.52	28.52	12.90	New	12.26	4.28
Piraeus B	39.64	22.45	24.10	24.54	12.38	New	23.14	10.69
Preveza	58.97	19.24	16.38	43.88	17.12	New	5.01	New
Rethymno	35.19	20.98	18.64	67.14	20.52	New	3.08	New
Rhodope	44.70	5.87	39.34	10.08	7.61	New	1.62	New
Samos	51.22	9.14	24.51	12.05	7.21	New	16.37	4.97
Serres	66.77	24.53	13.30	31.64	12.19	New	7.37	5.43
Thesprotia	61.66	25.13	21.67	41.79	14.20	New	2.15	1.37
Thessaloniki A	54.50	23.14	17.32	26.52	10.92	New	15.87	8.89
Thessaloniki B	56.94	21.29	15.37	31.18	14.93	New	11.83	5.95
Trikala	53.82	24.95	21.20	34.89	11.18	New	9.62	5.41
Xanthi	52.57	17.19	23.64	37.22	8.23	New	1.95	New
Zakynthos	53.14	10.80	33.05	24.60	4.85	New	7.87	New

Aftermath

These were the priorities of the Karamanlis's government:

• The adoption of a new constitution
• The abolition of the monarchy after a free referendum
• The submission of a new application for Greece to join the European Community.

The new government decided on a referendum on retaining the republic, which was held on 8 December 1974.

In 1975 Konstantinos Tsatsos, a close friend of Karamanlis, was elected President of the Republic by parliament.

Further reading

• Tridimas, George (2010). "Referendum and the choice between monarchy and republic in Greece". Constitutional Political Economy. 21 (2): 119–144. doi:10.1007/s10602-009-9078-4. S2CID 154282086.