1946 Greek legislative election

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.

1946 Greek legislative election

← 1936 31 March 1946 1950 →
All 354 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 178 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Konstantinos Tsaldaris Sofoklis Venizelos Party NPE EPE Last election 22.10%, 72 seats 11 seats, 5.01% Seats won 206 68 Seat change 134 57 Popular vote 610,995 213,721 Percentage 55.12% 19.28% Swing 33.02pp 14.27pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Themistoklis Sofoulis Napoleon Zervas Party Liberal EKE Last election 37.26%, 126 seats – Seats won 48 20 Seat change 78 New Popular vote 159,525 66,027 Percentage 14.39% 5.96% Swing 22.87pp New
Prime Minister before election Themistoklis Sofoulis Liberal Prime Minister after election Konstantinos Tsaldaris People's Party

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.

The American, French and British governments sent election monitors to observe the election.^[4][5]

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

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

References

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
4. Jessen, Raymond J.; Kempthorne, Oscar; Daly, Joseph F.; Deming, W. Edwards (1949). "Observations on the 1946 Elections in Greece". American Sociological Review. 14 (1): 11–16. doi:10.2307/2086440. ISSN 0003-1224.
5. Prévost, Jean-Guy (2018). "The 1946 Allied Mission to Observe Greek Elections". Histoire & mesure. XXXIII (2): 163–192. doi:10.4000/histoiremesure.8146. ISSN 0982-1783.