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 "Republic" vote share by constituency | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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A referendum on retaining the republic was held in Greece on 8 December 1974. After the collapse of the military junta that ruled the country since 1967, the issue of the form of government remained unsolved. The Junta had already staged a referendum held on 29 July 1973, which resulted in the maintenance of the Republic. However, after the fall of the military regime, the new government, under Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, decided to hold another one, as Junta constituent acts were considered void. Constantine II, the former king, was banned by the new government from returning to Greece to campaign in the referendum, but the Karamanlis government allowed him to make a televised address to the nation. A total of 69.2% of voters favoured retaining the republic with a turnout of 75.6%.
Campaign
The referendum campaign included television debates in which King Constantine himself took part on the monarchist side, and those debating in favour of the republic included Marios Ploritis, Leonidas Kyrkos, Phaedon Vegleris, George Koumandos, Alexandros Panagoulis and Costas Simitis, who later (from 1996 to 2004) served as Prime Minister of Greece.
Political parties abstained from taking part in the referendum campaign, with the television debates confined to ordinary citizens representing one side or the other (although most members of some parties and alliances had sympathies for one side or the other, with members of the National Democratic Union in favour of restoring the monarchy and the United Left, Centre Union – New Forces, and PASOK in favour of the republic). On 23 November 1974 Prime Minister Karamanlis requested for his parliamentary party group (New Democracy) to adopt a neutral stance on the issue. Two televised speeches a week were given to each side, with an additional two messages broadcast by the former king; a radio broadcast on 26 November and a television speech on 6 December.
Results
| Choice | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republic | 3,245,111 | 69.18 | |
| Constitutional monarchy | 1,445,875 | 30.82 | |
| Total | 4,690,986 | 100.00 | |
| Valid votes | 4,690,986 | 99.39 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 28,801 | 0.61 | |
| Total votes | 4,719,787 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,244,539 | 75.58 | |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | |||
By region
The electorate voted categorically in favour of republic. Crete gave more than 90% of its vote for the republic, but in around thirty constituencies, the result for republic was around 60–70%. The highest vote share for the restoration of the monarchy were in the Peloponnese and Thrace, at around 45%. The constituencies with the highest vote shares for the restoration were Laconia at 59.52%, Rhodope at 50.54%, Messenia with 49.24%, Elis at 46.88% and Argos at 46.67%.
| Region | Republic (%) | Constitutional monarchy (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Athens A | 75.60 | 24.40 |
| Athens B | 79.59 | 20.41 |
| Aetolia-Acarnania | 65.63 | 34.67 |
| Argolis | 53.33 | 46.67 |
| Arkadia | 56.99 | 43.01 |
| Arta | 56.21 | 43.79 |
| Achaea | 68.54 | 31.46 |
| Kavala | 73.64 | 26.36 |
| Boeotia | 65.46 | 35.24 |
| Corfu | 63.47 | 36.53 |
| Drama | 67.41 | 32.59 |
| Dodecanese | 63.78 | 36.22 |
| Evros | 60.27 | 39.73 |
| Evrytania | 60.69 | 39.31 |
| Euboea | 65.38 | 34.62 |
| Grevena | 61.20 | 38.80 |
| Heraklion | 89.43 | 10.57 |
| Ilia | 53.12 | 46.88 |
| Ioannina | 68.70 | 31.30 |
| Imathia | 71.77 | 28.23 |
| Thessaloniki A | 79.99 | 20.01 |
| Thessaloniki B | 68.12 | 31.88 |
| Thesprotia | 64.21 | 35.79 |
| Zante | 62.63 | 37.37 |
| Karditsa | 68.79 | 31.21 |
| Kastoria | 55.74 | 44.26 |
| Cephalonia | 66.17 | 33.83 |
| Kilkis | 59.71 | 40.29 |
| Kozani | 66.11 | 33.89 |
| Corinthia | 62.36 | 37.64 |
| Cyclades | 61.72 | 38.28 |
| Larissa | 67.82 | 32.18 |
| Laconia | 40.48 | 59.52 |
| Lasithi | 88.42 | 11.58 |
| Lesvos | 77.74 | 22.26 |
| Lefkada | 71.22 | 28.78 |
| Magnesia | 71.25 | 28.75 |
| Messenia | 50.76 | 49.24 |
| Xanthi | 53.75 | 46.25 |
| Piraeus A | 71.95 | 28.05 |
| Piraeus B | 81.70 | 18.30 |
| Pella | 65.09 | 34.91 |
| Pieria | 65.54 | 34.46 |
| Preveza | 62.01 | 37.99 |
| Rethymno | 94.10 | 5.90 |
| Rhodope | 49.46 | 50.54 |
| Samos | 64.38 | 35.62 |
| Serres | 64.82 | 35.18 |
| Trikala | 67.40 | 32.60 |
| Attica | 65.07 | 34.93 |
| Fthiotida | 63.58 | 36.42 |
| Florina | 60.36 | 39.64 |
| Fokida | 62.44 | 37.56 |
| Chalcidice | 58.17 | 41.83 |
| Chania | 92.70 | 7.30 |
| Chios | 72.95 | 27.05 |
Aftermath
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With the announcement of the results, Karamanlis said: "A cancer has been removed from the body of the nation today." On 15 December 1974, the incumbent President General Phaedon Gizikis (appointed by Ioannides in November 1973) submitted his resignation, and Karamanlis thanked him with a personal visit and by writing for his services to the country. On 18 December 1974, Michail Stasinopoulos, a state list MP for New Democracy, was elected and sworn in as provisional President of Greece, as the Parliament was to compose a new Constitution.
In February 1988, Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis stated in an interview given in London that although he was a republican, the manner in which the referendum was carried out had been "unfair". The statement attracted wide criticism in Greece and was debated in the media. For the remainder of his life, under the pretense of invoking the narrative style reserved for historical reminiscence, Mitsotakis continued to refer to the deposed monarch deferentially by referring to him as the "King" in multiple interviews.
In April 2007, the newspaper To Vima carried out a survey in which only 11.6% of those polled wished for Greece to become a monarchy again.
References
- Steven V. Roberts (9 December 1974). "Greeks Reject Monarchy By Wide Margin of Votes". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p830 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- Hope, Kevin. Referendum plan faces hurdles. Financial Times 1 November 2011.
- Nohlen & Stöver, p838
- Kollias, Konstantinos (1984). Βασιλεύς και Επανάστασις 1967. Athens: Αθήναι. p. 115.
- Ανασκόπηση γεγονότων 1988, Live-Pedia Archived 2011-05-11 at the Wayback Machine, ανακτήθηκε 28-11-2009
- JPRS Report Europe, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 28 April 1988 (JPRS-WER-88-021, reproduced by US Dept. of Commerce, ανακτήθηκε 28-11-2009, σελ. 8-9
