ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

--- CONTENT ---
The 1974 parliamentary elections in Greece were held on 17 November with the aim of returning to democracy following the collapse of the Coronels' Dictatorship imposed in 1967. They were held days before a referendum completely eliminated the Greek monarchy and established a parliamentary republic, so these were the last elections under the Greek constitution of 1952.

The central right-wing party New Democracy (ND), founded a few months ago by the interim Prime Minister Constantinos Karamanlis, won an overwhelming victory with 54.37% of the votes, and obtained an absolute two-thirds majority of the Council of Helens with 220 of the 300 seats. No political party has achieved a similar victory since then until today. The second was the Union of Centre - New Forces (EK-ND) with only 20.42% of the votes and 60 seats. The Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), left in third place with 13.58% and won 12 seats, and finally, the United Left coalition, led by the newly legalized Communist Party of Greece, won 9.47% of the votes and 8 seats. No other force obtained parliamentary representation.

With this gigantic majority, Karamanlis was elected Prime Minister, ending the period of democratic transition known as Metapolitefsi, although democracy would be consolidated with the victory of PASOK in 1981 and the first safe change of government.

Background

Collapse of the military regime
After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the military junta finally abandoned the dictator Dimitrios Ioannides and his policies. On 23 July 1974, President Phaedon Gizikis convened a meeting of politicians from the old guard, including Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Spyros Markezinis, Stephanos Stephanopoulos, Evangelos Averoff and others. The heads of the armed forces also participated in the meeting. The agenda was to appoint a government of national unity with a mandate to conduct the country until elections were held and at the same time to remove Greece from a possible armed confrontation with Turkey. Gizikis initially proposed that the key ministries of Defence, Public Order and Interior be controlled by the military, but this idea was summarily rejected.

Former Prime Minister Panagiotis Kanellopulos was originally proposed as head of the new interim government. He was the legitimate prime minister originally deposed by the dictatorship and a distinguished veteran politician who had repeatedly criticized Papadopoulos and his successor. Some battles continued to take place in northern Cyprus and the Greek-Turkish border in Thrace was tense when the Greeks took to the streets in all major cities, celebrating the board's decision to leave power before the war in Cyprus could be spilled over the Aegean. But the talks in Athens were not going to