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

31 March 1946
All 354 seats of the Greek Parliament 178 seats were needed for a majority
Leader Konstantinos Tsaldaris Sofoklis Venizelos Party NPE EPE Leader since 1946 1946 Last election 72 seats, 22.10% 11 seats, 5.01% Seats won 206 68 Seat change 134 57 Popular vote 610,995 213,721 Percentage 55.12% 19.28% Swing 33.02% 14.27%   Leader Themistoklis Sofoulis Napoleon Zervas Party Liberal EKE Leader since 1936 1946 Last election 126 seats, 37.26% New Seats won 48 20 Seat change 78 New Popular vote 159,525 66,027 Percentage 14.39% 5.96% Swing 22.87% New
Prime Minister before election Themistoklis Sofoulis Liberal Elected Prime Minister 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.

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	1.08	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	0.25	0
Invalid/blank votes	13,223	–	–
Total	1,121,696	100	354
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Global Elections Database

^a Within the United Alignment the People's Party won 156 seats, the National Liberal Party 34, the Reform Party five and others 11.

^b Within the National Political Union the Party of Venizelist Liberals won 31 seats, the National Unionist Party 27, the Democratic Socialist Party 7 seats and others three.

Popular vote HPE   55.12% EPE   19.28% KF   14.39% EKE   5.96% EE   2.94% Others   2.32%

Parliament seats HPE   58.19% EPE   19.21% KF   13.56% EKE   5.65% EE   2.54% Others   0.85%

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