1946_Greek_legislative_election References

1946 Greek legislative election
All 354 seats in the Hellenic Parliament; 178 seats needed for a majority
Prime Minister before election; Themistoklis Sofoulis; Liberal	Prime Minister after election ; Konstantinos Tsaldaris; People's Party

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 31 March 1946.^[1] The result was a victory for the United Alignment of Nationalists, an alliance that included the People's Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Reform Party,^[2] which won 206 of the 354 seats in Parliament.^[3] As a result, Konstantinos Tsaldaris became Prime Minister leading a right-wing coalition. Nonetheless, he soon decided to resign in favor of Themistoklis Sophoulis, who led a government of national unity (conservative and centre-liberal forces) during the entire second phase of the civil war (1946–1949). One of the priorities of the new government was the proclamation of a plebiscite for the restoration of the Greek monarchy.

The elections were marked by the boycott of the Communist Party of Greece claiming in protest against the unfolding, state-tolerated White Terror against the former members of EAM-ELAS. The night before the elections, a communist band attacked a police station in Litochoro. This event is considered the beginning of the three years civil war.

One of the reasons for the defeat of the centre-liberal parties was the division of the Liberal Party, founded by Eleftherios Venizelos. One faction remained loyal to the leadership of Themistoklis Sophoulis, while another faction followed Sophoklis Venizelos, who formed a coalition with Georgios Papandreou and Panayiotis Kanellopoulos.

Results


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	United Alignment of Nationalists^[a]	610,995	55.12	206
	National Political Union^[b]	213,721	19.28	68
	Liberal Party	159,525	14.39	48
	National Party of Greece	66,027	5.96	20
	Union of Nationalists	32,538	2.94	9
	List of Independents	12,036	1.09	2
	Union of Agrarian Parties	7,447	0.67	1
	Party X	1,848	0.17	0
	Civil and Agricultural Party	1,114	0.10	0
	Parataxis of Orthodox Christian Greeks	298	0.03	0
	Patriotic Party of Reservists	63	0.01	0
	Party for the National Union	15	0.00	0
	Socialist Party	13	0.00	0
	Independents	2,833	0.26	0
Total		1,108,473	100.00	354

Valid votes		1,108,473	98.82
Invalid/blank votes		13,223	1.18
Total votes		1,121,696	100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Global Elections Database

^ Included the People's Party (156 seats), the National Liberal Party (34), the Reform Party (5) and others (11)
^ Included the Party of Venizelist Liberals (31 seats), the National Unionist Party (27), the Democratic Socialist Party (7) and others (3)

References

^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p843
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p859

[4] Included the People's Party (156 seats), the National Liberal Party (34), the Reform Party (5) and others (11)

[5] Included the Party of Venizelist Liberals (31 seats), the National Unionist Party (27), the Democratic Socialist Party (7) and others (3)

[NS-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p843

[3] Nohlen & Stöver, p859

[1]

[2]

[3]

[a]

[b]

v t e Elections and referendums in Greece
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Head of state elections	1862 (King) 1926 (President)
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European elections	1981 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1920 1924 1935 1946 1968 1973 1974 2015

v t e Greek Civil War
Background	4th of August Regime Axis occupation of Greece Greek Resistance National Liberation Front Greek People's Liberation Army National Republican Greek League (EDES) Collaborationist governments Security Battalions Greek government-in-exile Red Terror Lebanon Conference Caserta Agreement Battle of Meligalas Battle of Kilkis (1944) Dekemvriana Treaty of Varkiza White Terror 1946 election 1946 referendum
Events (1946-1949)	Litochoro attack Truman Doctrine Battle of Konitsa Thessaloniki bombing Capture of Ierapetra Operation Charavgi Massacre of the First Sapper Battalion Operation Koronis Operation Peristera Operation Pyravlos Tito–Stalin split Operation Pyrsos
Communists	Communist Party of Greece Provisional Democratic Government Democratic Army of Greece Popular Civil Guard National Liberation Front (Macedonia) Nikos Zachariadis Markos Vafiadis Charilaos Florakis Alexandros Rosios Petros Kokkalis
National Government	George II of Greece Paul of Greece Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens Themistoklis Sofoulis Konstantinos Tsaldaris Alexandros Papagos Konstantinos Ventiris Konstantinos Dovas Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos Dimitrios Giatzis James Van Fleet Hellenic Army Royal Hellenic Air Force Greek Gendarmerie Countryside Security Units TEA
Impact and aftermath	Refugees Internal exile Sacred Bond of Greek Officers Centrist Interlude Greek junta Metapolitefsi