1977 Greek legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 20 November 1977.[1] After Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis called for early elections, his New Democracy party suffered a significant loss of power. However, Karamanlis managed to secure an absolute majority in the Parliament. The big surprise was the success of PASOK, whose socialistic rhetoric remained radical. Because of PASOK's success, the Centrists (Union of the Democratic Centre, EDIK, former Center Union - New Forces) led again by Georgios Mavros) lost half of their power. As a result, Andreas Papandreou, PASOK's leader, became a prominent figure in Greek politics. The Communists (Communist Party of Greece) and the Nationalists managed to amplify their support.

1977 Greek legislative election

← 1974 20 November 1977 1981 →

All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament
151 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Constantine Karamanlis Andreas Papandreou Georgios Mavros
Party ND PASOK EDIK
Last election 54.37%, 220 seats 13.58%, 12 seats, 20.42%, 60 seats
Seats won 171 93 16
Seat change Decrease 49 Increase 81 Decrease 44
Popular vote 2,146,365 1,300,025 612,782
Percentage 41.84% 25.34% 11.95%
Swing Decrease12.53pp Increase11.76pp Decrease8.47pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Charilaos Florakis Stefanos Stefanopoulos Ilias Iliou
Party KKE National Alignment SPAD
Last election 9.47%, 8 seats
Seats won 11 5 2
Seat change Increase 3 New
Popular vote 480,272 349,988 139,356
Percentage 9.36% 6.82% 2.72%
Swing Decrease0.11pp New

  Seventh party
 
Leader Constantine Mitsotakis
Party Party of New Liberals
Last election
Seats won 2
Seat change New
Popular vote 55,494
Percentage 1.08%
Swing New

Prime Minister before election

Constantine Karamanlis
ND

Prime Minister after election

Constantine Karamanlis
ND

Future Prime Minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras first won a seat in parliament at this election.

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
New Democracy2,146,36541.84171−49
PASOK1,300,02525.3493+81
Union of the Democratic Centre612,78611.9516+16
Communist Party of Greece480,2729.3611
National Alignment349,9886.825New
Progress and Left Forces Alliance139,3562.722
Party of New Liberals55,4941.082New
Revolutionary Communist Movement11,8950.2300
Popular Democratic Unity8,8390.170New
International Workers' Union – Trotskyists1,0320.020New
Hellenic Christian-Social Union7770.020New
Communist Organisation "Fighter"3210.010New
Labour-Agricultural Party of Greece1700.000New
Farmer Smoke-Producers Party840.000New
Olympic Democracy190.000New
Independents22,3480.440New
Total5,129,771100.003000
Valid votes5,129,77198.77
Invalid/blank votes64,1201.23
Total votes5,193,891100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,403,73881.11
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

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In 1979 Greece became European Community's 10th member, despite the opposition of PASOK and the Communists. In October 1980 Greece rejoined NATO military structure. In 1980, Constantine Karamanlis succeeded Constantine Tsatsos as President of the Republic. George Rallis became Prime Minister and new leader of ND.

References

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