# Greek Constitution of 1952

The Greek Constitution of 1952 established a parliamentary monarchy with the king as head of state and the army, based on the principle of the separation of powers. It was based on the Constitution of 1911, but it was effectively a new constitution since it was in violation of the revision clause of the Constitution of 1911.
The Constitution had several novel provisions,
* Foreign investments in Greece became possible by Article 107.
* The right to vote irrespective of gender, and once codified into law, women voted for the first time in elections of 1956.

## History

The Constitution of 1952 brought stability in the 1950s since the political institutions of Greece had been significantly weakened by the Metaxas' dictatorship (1936-1941), followed by the devastation of Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1945) and by the Greek civil war (1946-1949). However, the king maintained considerable powers, such as dissolving the government and parliament and calling new elections. Moreover, article 31 stated that the king hires and fires ministers (Greek: Ο βασιλεύς διορίζει και παύει τους υπουργούς αυτού). This created confusion as the prime minister was chosen by popular election, but the elected prime minister could not select the government's ministers without the king's approval. Two prime ministers in the 1950s had raised the question as to who governs the state, the king or the prime minister, echoing the disagreements between Eleftherios Venizelos and Constantine I during the National Schism.
From 1955 to 1963, Greece was under the governorship of Constantine Karamanlis, who was widely acknowledged for bringing political and economic stability to Greece. However, in the early 1960s, there was a growing awareness that the repressive measures taken due to civil war and its aftermath were no longer needed. This became clear with the death of a left-wing member of parliament Grigoris Lambrakis, where several high state officials were found to be involved either in the assassination or in its cover-up. While no one, even from the severest of his left-wing critics, blamed Karamanlis for the incident, he resigned and self-exiled to France.
Georgios Papandreou and his political party, Center Union, having a moderate reformist platform, gained considerable traction and rose to power in elections of 1963 and later in elections of 1964. However, seeds of resentment towards Papandreou from the military grew as they were excluded from salary increases. He also made a faint attempt to gain control of the military, which alarmed many officers without weakening them. The latter created friction with the King Constantine II, who wanted to be in command of the army and not the elected government. In the meantime, the son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas Papandreou, who had joined Greek politics after 23 years in the United States as a prominent academic, was campaigning by having fierce anti-monarchy and anti-American rhetoric, destabilizing the fragile political equilibrium. Andreas Papandreou's militant and uncompromising stance made him a target of conspiratorial accusations from ultra-rightists who feared that following any new elections, which the nearly 80-year-old Georgios Papandreou would likely win, his son would be the actual focus of power in the party. These incidents caused a dispute between Georgios Papandreou and King Constantine II, leading to the resignation of the former.
For the next twenty-two months, there was no elected government, and hundreds of demonstrations took place, with many being injured and killed in clashes with the police. The king, potentially acting within his constitutional rights but politically dubious approach, tried to bring members of the Center Union party to his side and form a government, leading to Apostasia of 1965. He temporarily succeeded in getting 45 members, including Constantine Mitsotakis, to his side, who later were called 'apostates' by the side supporting Papandreous. To end the political deadlock, Georgios Papandreou attempted a more moderate approach with the king, but Andreas Papandreou publicly rejected his father's effort and attacked the whole establishment, attracting the support of 41 members of the Center Union in an effort designed to gain the party's leadership and preventing any compromise. The prolonged political instability between the politicians and the king in finding a solution led a group of Colonels to intervene and rule Greece for seven years.