Editorial Note
Elections for the Greek Parliament of 250 seats were held on March 5. An intricate system of proportional representation resulted in a distribution of parliamentary seats to candidates of the following political parties (names of party leaders are in parentheses): Populist Party (Constantine Tsaldaris), 62; Liberal Party (Sophocles Venizelos), 56; National Progressive Union of the Center (General Nicholas Plastiras and Emmanuel Tsouderos), 45; Party of George Papandreou, 35; Democratic Camp (coalition of the extreme left) (Alexander Svolos, John Sofianopoulos, and Neokosmos Gregoriades), 18; PAP (Politike Anexartetos Parataxis—Independent Political Array, a coalition of the extreme right) (Constantine Maniadakis, Theodore Tourkovassilis, and Constantine Kotzias), 16; MEA (Metopon Ethnikes Anademiourgias—National Regeneration Front) (Panayotis Kanellopoulos and Vice Admiral Alexander Sakellariou), 7; National Party of Greece (General Napoleon Zervas), 7; Agrarian and Labor Party (Alexander Mylonas and Alexander Baltadzis), 3; and the New Party (Spyridon B. Markezinis), 1. Compared with the previous general election of 1946, the results indicated a shift of the electorate from the conservative Populist Party to the center parties. The extreme left Democratic Camp received about 9.6 percent of the votes cast, which was about the same as the extreme left’s assessed strength of 10 percent of the electorate in 1946 (Walter H. Mallory (ed.), Political Handbook of the World: Parliaments, Parties and Press as of January 1, 1951 (New York, Harper and Brothers for the Council on Foreign Eclations, Inc., 1951), pages 96–97). Ambassador Henry F. Grady sent letters dated March 14 to Prime Minister John G. Theotokis and to Field Marshal Alexander Papagos, congratulating them for the way in which elections were held under conditions of order and calm permitting freedom of speech and movement (enclosures 1 and 2 to despatch 441, March 22, from Athens, not printed, 781.00/3–2250).