May 1915 Greek legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 13 June [O.S. 31 May] 1915.[1] The result was a landslide victory for Eleftherios Venizelos and his Liberal Party, which won 187 of the 316 seats in Parliament. Venizelos claimed that his victory was proof that the Greek people approved of his policy, favoring the Allies of World War I.

May 1915 Greek legislative election

13 June [O.S. 31 May] 1915

All 316 seats of the Greek Parliament
159 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Eleftherios Venizelos Dimitrios Gounaris
Party Liberal Japanese
Leader since 1910 1913
Last election 146 seats New
Seats won 187 95
Seat change 41 New

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Georgios Theotokis Dimitrios Rallis
Party GTK DRK
Leader since 1910 1910
Last election 10 seats 6 seats
Seats won 12 7
Seat change 2 1

Prime Minister before election

Dimitrios Gounaris
Japanese

Elected Prime Minister

Dimitrios Gounaris
Japanese

Results

Party Votes % Seats
Liberal Party187
Japanese Group95
Supporters of Georgios Theotokis12
Supporters of Dimitrios Rallis7
Supporters of Nikolaos Dimitrakopoulos6
Thessaloniki Socialist Federation2
Independents7
Total686,990316
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

Despite the Liberals' victory, the dispute between Venizelos and King King Constantine I continued. Fresh elections were held in December, which were boycotted by Venizelos and his party as unconstitutional. In August 1916, Venizelos went on to establish a rival Provisional Government of National Defence in the North of the country under the auspices of Entente powers, an event known as the National Schism.

The May 1915 Parliament was subsequently recalled when Constantine was forced to abdicate and leave the country in June 1917 following the Venizelists' victory. As a result, the Parliament was ironically nicknamed by royalists as the "Parliament of the Lazaruses" (Βουλή των Λαζάρων), and continued to sit until the October 1920 elections.

See also

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p829 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
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