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| Referendum on monarchy in Greece, 1974 |
Today, The Grandma feels better and she has decided to listen to the latest news in Europe. The old continent is suffering the consequences of different actions that its citizens are doing to protest against poverty, to reclaim basic civil rights and to fight against corruption and violence.
The old continent is burning with open conflicts in Ukraine (against Russia), France (with the Gilets Jaunes), Catalonia (Catalan Political Prisoners, Catalan Government in Exile and Spanish repression) and Greece (economic crisis).
History is full of coincidences and today is the anniversary of the Greek referendum which abolished the monarchy and established the Republic. The Grandma loves Greece and Greek people. They are the cradle of modern Europe and they have an incredible history and culture to share and to explain.
Europe must protect its nations and their citizens in front of the power of the big states and the big lobbies or its own future will be in danger.
After listening to the news, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Elementary Language Practice manual (Grammar 36 & Checkpoint 6).
More information: Tag Questions
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 from 1967, the issue of the form of government remained unsolved. The Junta had already staged a plebiscite held on 29 July 1973, which resulted in the establishment of the Republic. However, after the fall of the military regime, the new government, under Constantine Karamanlis, decided to hold another one, as Junta legal acts were considered illegal.
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. The proposal was approved by 69.2% of voters with a turnout of 75.6%.
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| Greece, 1974 |
The referendum campaign included television debates in which Constantine himself took part on the monarchist side, whilst those debating in favour of a 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 who represented one side or the other. On 23 November 1974 Prime Minister Karamanlis requested that his parliamentary party group 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.
More information: The New York Times
On the day of the referendum, the electorate voted categorically in favour of republic. Crete gave more than 90% of its vote for a republic, whilst in around thirty constituencies the result for republic was around 60–70%. The biggest wins for monarchy were in Peloponnisos and Thrace, with around 45%. The constituencies with the highest votes for a monarchy were Laconia at 59.52%, Rhodope at 50.54%, Messenia with 49.24%, Elis at 46.88% and Argos at 46.67%.
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, Phaedon Gizikis, submitted his resignation, and Karamanlis thanked him with a personal visit and in 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 President of Greece.
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.
More information: Greek Boston
Greece is the most magical place on Earth.
Kylie Bax
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