May 1915 Greek legislative election

May 1915 Greek legislative election

13 June [O.S. 31 May] 1915
All 316 seats in the Hellenic Parliament 159 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Eleftherios Venizelos Dimitrios Gounaris Party Liberal Japanese Seats won 187 95   Third party Fourth party   Leader Georgios Theotokis Dimitrios Rallis Party Theotokis supporters Rallis supporters Seats won 12 7
Prime Minister before election Dimitrios Gounaris Japanese Prime Minister after election Dimitrios Gounaris Japanese

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.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Liberal Party			187
	Japanese Group			95
	Supporters of Georgios Theotokis			12
	Supporters of Dimitrios Rallis			7
	Supporters of Nikolaos Dimitrakopoulos			6
	Thessaloniki Socialist Federation			2
	Independents			7
Total				316
Total votes		686,990	–
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

• Greece during World War I

References

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