Greek referendum, 1946

Greece

This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Greece
Constitution Constitutional history
Executive President (list) Prokopis Pavlopoulos Presidential Departments Prime Minister (list) Alexis Tsipras Cabinet (list)
Legislature Parliament Speaker: Nikos Voutsis Presidium Conference of Presidents Parliamentary committees
Judiciary Judicial system Supreme Special Court Court of Cassation Council of State Chamber of Accounts
Administrative divisions Regions Municipalities
Elections Political parties Parliamentary constituencies Recent elections September 2015 (legislative) January 2015 (legislative) May 2014 (European) May 2014 (local) June 2012 (legislative)
Foreign relations Minister for Foreign Affairs
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

A referendum on maintaining the monarchy was held in Greece on 1 September 1946.^[1] The proposal was approved by 68.4% of voters with a turnout of 88.6%.^[2]

Background

The referendum was the fourth since 1920 on the country's monarchy. The 1946 parliamentary elections, in which the right-wing parties achieved a landslide, had just taken place. The new conservative government of Konstantinos Tsaldaris was favorable to George II, but what influenced the result more was the atmosphere of imminent civil war.

The civil war convulsed Greece during two main periods: first between 1943 and 1944 between the communist-dominated EAM-ELAS partisans and the right-wing resistance groups and the collaborationist government, and again from 1946 until 1949. When the referendum took place, EAM-ELAS had been defeated in the Dekemvriana and forced to disarm in the Treaty of Varkiza, after which its members were persecuted by state-sponsored security and paramilitary groups ("White Terror"). This deepened the gulf between the Left and the centrist and right-wing parties, and polarized the political spectrum so that the centrist parties (that followed a more moderate but also more ambiguous policy) lost part of their power. The Communist Party of Greece boycotted both the elections and the referendum. George II symbolized the unity of the anti-communist forces, which partly explains the percentage of votes in his favour. The conservatives, along with Prime Minister Konstantinos Tsaldaris, supported him, whereas the centrists were divided. While the centrists regarded George II with displeasure, they did not want to be accused of being "accomplices" of the communists.

The official report of the Allied Mission to Observe the Greek Elections [AMFOGE] acknowledged the existence of voter fraud, despite its vested interest in legitimizing the election, that "There is no doubt in our minds that the party representing the government view exercised undue influence in securing votes in support of the return of the King." They however claimed that without said influence, the monarchy would still have prevailed in the election. ^[3]

Results

Choice	Votes	%
For	1,136,289	68.4
Against	524,771	31.6
Invalid/blank votes	3,860	–
Total	1,664,920	100
Registered voters/turnout	1,921,725	86.6
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p838
↑ https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v07/d145

Elections and referendums in Greece

Parliamentary elections	1829 1843 1844 1847 1850 1853 1856 1859 1861 1862 1865 1868 1869 1872 1873 1874 1875 1879 1881 1885 1887 1890 1892 1895 1899 1902 1905 1906 1910 (Aug) 1910 (Nov) 1912 1915 (May) 1915 (Dec) 1920 1923 1926 1928 1929* 1932* 1933 1935 1936 1944 (PEEA) 1946 1950 1951 1952 1956 1958 1961 1963 1964 1974 1977 1981 1985 1989 (Jun) 1989 (Nov) 1990 1993 1996 2000 2004 2007 2009 2012 (May) 2012 (Jun) 2015 (Jan) 2015 (Sep) Next

Head of state elections	1862 (King) 1926 (President)

Local elections	1834 1835 1837 1841 1847 1850 1866 1870 1874 1879 1883 1887 1891 1895 1899 1903 1907 1914 1925 1929 1934 1951 1954 1959 1964 1975 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

European elections	1981 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Referendums	1920 1924 1935 1946 1968 1973 1974 2015

* Senate elections

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 Collaborationist governments Security Battalions Greek government-in-exile Red Terror Lebanon Conference Caserta Agreement Dekemvriana Treaty of Varkiza White Terror 1946 general elections 1946 monarchy referendum

Events	Litochoro attack Truman Doctrine Battle of Konitsa Thessaloniki bombing Operation Charavgi Operation Koronis Operation Peristera Operation Pyravlos Tito–Stalin split Operation Pyrsos

Communists	Communist Party of Greece National Liberation Front Provisional Democratic Government Democratic Army of Greece Popular Civil Guard Nikos Zachariadis Markos Vafiadis

National Government	George II of Greece Paul of Greece Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens Themistoklis Sofoulis Konstantinos Tsaldaris Alexandros Papagos Konstantinos Ventiris Dimitrios Giatzis Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos James Van Fleet Hellenic Army Royal Hellenic Air Force Greek Gendarmerie Rural Security Units

Impact and aftermath	Refugees of the Greek Civil War Makronisos Sacred Bond of Greek Officers Centrist Interlude Greek military junta of 1967–74 Metapolitefsi

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, November 07, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.