1977 Greek parliamentary election
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Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 20 November 1977.[1] After Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis called for early elections, his New Democracy party lost a large number of seats, yet still retain an absolute majority in the Parliament.[2] 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 (National Alignment) managed to amplify their support.
1.58pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 November 1977
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All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 151 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 6,403,738 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 81.11% ( 1.58pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Future Prime Minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras first won a seat in parliament at this election.
Results
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| New Democracy | 2,146,365 | 41.84 | 171 | −49 | |
| Panhellenic Socialist Movement | 1,300,025 | 25.34 | 93 | +81 | |
| Union of the Democratic Centre | 612,786 | 11.95 | 16 | +16 | |
| Communist Party of Greece | 480,272 | 9.36 | 11 | – | |
| National Alignment | 349,988 | 6.82 | 5 | New | |
| Progress and Left Forces Alliance | 139,356 | 2.72 | 2 | – | |
| Party of New Liberals | 55,494 | 1.08 | 2 | New | |
| Revolutionary Communist Movement | 11,895 | 0.23 | 0 | 0 | |
| Popular Democratic Unity | 8,839 | 0.17 | 0 | New | |
| International Workers' Union – Trotskyists | 1,032 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
| Hellenic Christian-Social Union | 777 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
| Communist Organisation "Fighter" | 321 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
| Labour-Agricultural Party of Greece | 170 | 0.00 | 0 | New | |
| Farmer Smoke-Producers Party | 84 | 0.00 | 0 | New | |
| Olympic Democracy | 19 | 0.00 | 0 | New | |
| Independents | 22,348 | 0.44 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 5,129,771 | 100.00 | 300 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 5,129,771 | 98.77 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 64,120 | 1.23 | |||
| Total votes | 5,193,891 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,403,738 | 81.11 | |||
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | |||||
By constituency
| Constituency | ND | PASOK | EDIK[a] | KKE | EP[b] | Alliance[c] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | ± | % | ± | % | ± | % | ± | % | ± | % | ± | |
| Achaea | 40.00 |  12.01 | 37.26 | 12.45 | 5.67 | 8.62 | 8.14 | New | 6.46 | 5.94 | 2.02 | 6.11 |
| Aetolia-Akarnania | 49.24 | 10.64 | 26.16 | 10.33 | 10.18 | 5.34 | 7.58 | New | 4.81 | 3.36 | 1.25 | 5.77 |
| Argolis | 46.01 | 22.02 | 25.50 | 9.87 | 10.40 | 2.51 | 3.45 | New | 12.40 | 10.93 | 0.99 | 0.94 |
| Arkadia | 48.74 | 16.41 | 21.45 | 12.03 | 12.21 | 9.72 | 5.03 | New | 11.20 | 10.48 | 1.11 | 1.58 |
| Arta | 39.32 | 25.38 | 27.91 | 12.53 | 12.60 | 0.74 | 6.86 | New | 12.06 | 8.88 | 1.19 | 3.66 |
| Athens A | 42.83 | 11.19 | 22.58 | 10.90 | 9.18 | 10.93 | 11.51 | New | 6.65 | 5.44 | 6.00 | 6.73 |
| Athens B | 36.14 | 10.44 | 27.58 | 14.41 | 8.30 | 12.97 | 16.09 | New | 5.13 | 4.20 | 5.18 | 12.64 |
| Attica | 45.10 | 17.57 | 28.07 | 16.13 | 11.09 | 6.19 | 7.62 | New | 5.48 | 4.72 | 1.80 | 5.28 |
| Boeotia | 39.40 | 20.41 | 30.96 | 15.39 | 11.99 | 3.42 | 7.37 | New | 7.98 | 7.60 | 1.71 | 4.49 |
| Cephalonia | 39.67 | 17.87 | 24.05 | 16.30 | 9.76 | 12.42 | 13.06 | New | 11.32 | New | 2.12 | 10.00 |
| Chalkidiki | 52.82 | 13.67 | 25.31 | 13.21 | 10.70 | 5.76 | 4.16 | New | 4.31 | 3.82 | 1.67 | 2.77 |
| Chania | 16.01 | 0.75 | 23.44 | 5.33 | 20.55 | 17.36 | 10.67 | New | 0.95 | 0.09 | 1.98 | 7.52 |
| Chios | 47.76 | 5.43 | 15.67 | 4.78 | 27.03 | 2.25 | 5.40 | New | 2.01 | 1.38 | 2.14 | 3.84 |
| Corfu | 35.44 | 12.83 | 32.07 | 9.58 | 7.65 | 11.01 | 10.03 | New | 9.96 | 9.51 | 2.87 | 7.22 |
| Corinthia | 47.09 | 16.69 | 29.86 | 11.90 | 9.73 | 4.69 | 3.88 | New | 6.16 | 5.21 | 1.49 | 1.38 |
| Cyclades | 54.95 | 7.96 | 22.92 | 12.48 | 12.61 | 11.20 | 3.45 | New | 3.04 | 2.44 | 2.38 | 0.37 |
| Dodecanese | 41.32 | 4.03 | 27.71 | 6.70 | 25.06 | 5.73 | 2.72 | New | 2.05 | 1.61 | 1.15 | 1.24 |
| Drama | 39.66 | 18.91 | 27.28 | 9.40 | 7.25 | 8.42 | 3.60 | New | 10.23 | 9.21 | 1.51 | 3.00 |
| Elis | 35.24 | 17.99 | 31.00 | 16.22 | 18.11 | 9.70 | 3.70 | New | 10.61 | 10.10 | 0.95 | 1.65 |
| Euboea | 42.72 | 15.90 | 27.68 | 13.49 | 13.08 | 8.83 | 5.28 | New | 5.64 | 5.13 | 1.05 | 3.52 |
| Evros | 54.73 | 9.24 | 21.76 | 10.25 | 13.01 | 6.05 | 3.70 | New | 4.34 | 3.07 | 1.70 | 2.45 |
| Evrytania | 46.43 | 17.85 | 28.44 | 15.30 | 13.67 | 7.07 | 3.05 | New | 6.75 | New | 0.55 | 1.29 |
| Florina | 47.03 | 23.60 | 15.62 | 9.65 | 19.17 | 0.66 | 4.80 | New | 8.07 | 7.25 | 0.93 | 3.11 |
| Grevena | 32.44 | 26.87 | 18.09 | 4.62 | 26.98 | 5.58 | 8.05 | New | 10.32 | 9.91 | 1.02 | 4.37 |
| Heraklion | 24.90 | 1.35 | 35.36 | 7.56 | 25.09 | 13.65 | 7.23 | New | 0.72 | 0.52 | 2.18 | 4.79 |
| Imathia | 43.34 | 11.58 | 30.62 | 14.99 | 10.94 | 9.70 | 8.45 | New | 4.16 | 3.72 | 2.03 | 6.32 |
| Ioannina | 46.26 | 15.76 | 24.78 | 15.15 | 8.57 | 11.37 | 8.11 | New | 7.57 | 6.93 | 2.51 | 5.23 |
| Karditsa | 36.52 | 16.03 | 26.56 | 13.36 | 10.18 | 8.81 | 10.96 | New | 14.29 | 13.49 | 1.01 | 7.58 |
| Kastoria | 44.21 | 19.18 | 19.49 | 14.83 | 9.97 | 12.10 | 2.82 | New | 13.49 | 12.31 | 1.02 | 0.62 |
| Kavala | 50.50 | 6.49 | 23.30 | 11.76 | 9.37 | 8.60 | 7.44 | New | 3.95 | 3.50 | 3.83 | 7.80 |
| Kilkis | 42.98 | 14.30 | 23.61 | 11.52 | 9.14 | 6.48 | 10.20 | New | 11.35 | 10.01 | 1.67 | 8.79 |
| Kozani | 49.82 | 12.50 | 23.70 | 11.55 | 13.58 | 5.42 | 5.60 | New | 5.38 | 4.87 | 1.77 | 3.75 |
| Laconia | 55.00 | 21.04 | 16.23 | 9.17 | 7.03 | 5.89 | 4.17 | New | 16.24 | 15.32 | 0.88 | 2.16 |
| Larissa | 36.90 | 16.76 | 22.31 | 8.94 | 11.59 | 8.76 | 15.06 | New | 10.31 | 9.61 | 2.31 | 9.57 |
| Lasithi | 29.61 | 0.64 | 26.18 | 5.78 | 30.97 | 15.02 | 4.19 | New | 0.45 | 0.16 | 0.67 | 1.46 |
| Lefkada | 31.89 | 15.07 | 16.58 | 9.90 | 18.71 | 0.49 | 18.05 | New | 8.17 | 7.33 | 4.52 | 22.62 |
| Lesbos | 42.77 | 0.11 | 20.79 | 5.65 | 7.96 | 8.81 | 24.37 | New | 1.14 | 0.49 | 2.20 | 22.34 |
| Magnesia | 42.42 | 9.03 | 19.54 | 11.05 | 14.16 | 11.06 | 14.52 | New | 5.39 | New | 3.32 | 11.50 |
| Messenia | 44.43 | 19.13 | 23.37 | 9.83 | 10.94 | 6.36 | 6.08 | New | 14.05 | 11.91 | 0.86 | 3.58 |
| Pella | 44.21 | 16.36 | 31.18 | 14.18 | 10.98 | 5.28 | 4.56 | New | 7.35 | 6.08 | 1.36 | 3.42 |
| Phocis | 54.88 | 11.55 | 23.96 | 15.47 | 3.88 | 14.73 | 4.90 | New | 10.59 | 7.93 | 1.02 | 2.77 |
| Phthiotis | 43.97 | 21.57 | 22.68 | 14.92 | 14.16 | 6.47 | 5.74 | New | 11.01 | 9.53 | 1.11 | 3.42 |
| Pieria | 44.04 | 18.98 | 23.81 | 12.08 | 15.05 | 2.29 | 6.56 | New | 8.29 | 7.39 | 1.90 | 5.08 |
| Piraeus A | 43.93 | 10.36 | 23.87 | 10.97 | 10.97 | 8.55 | 11.04 | New | 4.89 | 3.90 | 4.20 | 8.06 |
| Piraeus B | 32.41 | 7.23 | 26.47 | 14.09 | 11.99 | 12.11 | 19.34 | New | 2.99 | 2.27 | 5.18 | 17.96 |
| Preveza | 44.21 | 14.76 | 34.37 | 17.25 | 3.89 | 12.49 | 7.45 | New | 8.87 | 6.37 | 1.21 | 3.80 |
| Rethymno | 29.49 | 5.70 | 24.28 | 3.76 | 13.93 | 4.71 | 4.57 | New | 0.51 | 0.23 | 0.86 | 2.22 |
| Rhodope | 35.73 | 8.97 | 16.68 | 9.07 | 17.00 | 22.34 | 2.49 | New | 27.31 | 20.60 | 0.78 | 0.84 |
| Samos | 43.39 | 7.83 | 10.88 | 3.67 | 21.54 | 2.97 | 17.58 | New | 2.94 | 2.28 | 3.07 | 13.30 |
| Serres | 52.55 | 14.22 | 23.10 | 10.91 | 9.67 | 3.63 | 6.90 | New | 5.59 | 5.25 | 1.82 | 5.55 |
| Thesprotia | 34.10 | 27.56 | 30.55 | 16.35 | 24.74 | 3.07 | 4.55 | New | 5.32 | 5.03 | 0.75 | 1.40 |
| Thessaloniki A | 45.80 | 8.70 | 22.12 | 11.20 | 9.02 | 8.30 | 11.98 | New | 4.18 | 3.14 | 5.51 | 10.36 |
| Thessaloniki B | 46.19 | 10.75 | 27.55 | 12.62 | 7.45 | 7.92 | 10.01 | New | 5.32 | 4.52 | 2.03 | 9.80 |
| Trikala | 37.18 | 16.64 | 22.34 | 11.16 | 19.46 | 1.74 | 12.10 | New | 7.87 | 7.25 | 1.13 | 8.49 |
| Xanthi | 43.86 | 8.71 | 22.45 | 14.22 | 23.99 | 0.35 | 2.07 | New | 5.40 | 8.18 | 1.03 | 0.92 |
| Zakynthos | 36.33 | 16.81 | 20.39 | 15.54 | 7.38 | 25.67 | 15.79 | New | 15.25 | 14.18 | 2.00 | 5.87 |
Seat allocation with the current system
The seat allocation for the 1977 election was done using the 1974-1985 system, which was notorious for greatly favouring only parties that had received more than 17% of the public vote. As a result, ND and PASOK overperformed, grabbing seats from smaller parties (EDIK, KKE and EP). Also, there was no threshold for entering the parliament. As a result, SPAD and KNF managed to gain seats, something that would have been impossible with the current system. The seat allocation by region as it would have been with the current system is presented below:
| Region | ND | PASOK | EDIK | KKE | EP | SPAD | KNF | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | ± | S | ± | S | ± | S | ± | S | ± | S | ± | S | ± | |
| Attica | 33 | 1 | 17 | 6 | 6 |  0 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 2 | – | 2 | – | 0 |
| Central Greece | 12 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Central Macedonia | 26 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Crete | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 2 |
| Eastern Macedonia and Thrace | 12 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Epirus | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Ionian Islands | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| North Aegean | 5 | 1 | – | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Peloponnese | 15 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | 3 | 2 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| South Aegean | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Thessaly | 12 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Western Greece | 11 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Western Macedonia | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Greece | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 |
| Total | 160 | 11 | 66 | 27 | 31 | 15 | 25 | 14 | 18 | 13 | – | 2 | – | 2 |
Aftermath
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, Konstantinos Karamanlis succeeded Konstantinos Tsatsos as President of the Republic. George Rallis became Prime Minister and new leader of ND.