Evening star., 1946-08-18
Greeks Vote
Next Month
OnMOnarChv
Once Rejected King to
Head One of Three
Ballots Sept. |
BY L. s. ChakaLes

BY l.. y. ChaRatPS
ATHENS, Aug. 17.-Politically turbu-
lent Greece is preparing to vote again
September / on the return of a once
repudiated King.
The election will be held under the
auspices of royalist government which
was forced by strong parliamentary op-
position to make the plebescite a ques-
ton of regime rather than yea or nay
vote on George II himself.
Leftwing parties, which abstained from
voting and thereby virtually conceded
the March 81 parliamentary election to
the Royalist Populist party, will partici-
pate this time.
Eighty y-six-year-old ThemistocIes So
phoulis, Prime Minister before the
Populist victory in March, recently re-
lterated his contention that conditions
are not conducted for free and honest
vote. Greece's venerable Republican
champion consistently has opposed Pop
ulist right-wing legislation and once
threatened to withdraw his 50-man
Liberal party representation from Par
lament if the government insisted on
passage of particularly severe sections
of an emergency measure to restore
order.
Sophoulis, last Of the old guard that
organized the Liberal party under
Eleutherios Venizelos, Greece's greatest
modern statesmen more than 30 years
ago, has taken the stump in opposition
to the King.
National Union Bloc.
With him in the opposition ranks is
the National Union bloc headed by for
mer Prime Ministers George Papendreou,
Panayotis Canellopoulos and Sophocles
Zenibelos, son of the statesman who
broke away from the Liberal party to
organize the Venizelist Liberals.
The Communist-domi left-Wing
faction has made direct overtures to the
center Republican groups to create a
common front against King George, but
the center steadfastly has refused union
with the leftists.
Despite strong center opposition and
the weight of the left-wing groups. the
Royallsts, bulWarked by five months
control of the government, are con-
ceoed a sharp edge, even by some
left -wingers.
A British-American mission Is OBJ
serving the revision of the election
lists, which were challenged sharply
in March.
Three ballots will be used. One will
be marked King George II, another
will be marked republic and the third
will be blank. Blank and republic
ballots will count against the return
of the King, but the question of
whether Greece will be a monarchy or
republic will not be settled unless a
majority of the ballots are marked for
one or the other.
George, son of Constantine I and
Sophia of Prussia. assumed the throne
in 1922, when his father was forced
IS months later by a Republican mill
tary faction.
The exiled King returned in 1885 to
rule under the thumb of Dictator John
Metaxes after farcical plebiscite, and
fled again at the outset of the German
invasion.
During the bloody revolution of late
1914. when extreme left-Wing forces
sought to seize control and were frus-
trated, primarily by British arms, the
ET-yoor-nll -i,,a is
of Danish German extraction, dele
gated his duties to regency headed
by Archbishop Damaskinos of the
Greek Orthodox Church:
The present rightist populist gov
ernment, the eighth for Greece since
liberation in October, 1914, is expected
to resign if the King fails to obtain
majority September l.
Many Deported.
The regime has been characterized
by it's efforts to restore order. There
has been legislation providing the death
penalty for enemies of the state" and
establishing summary civil and military
courts to handle cases of disorder.
Scores, possibly hundreds, Of persons
have been deported to islands.
Left-wingers charge the government
program is directed only against the
democrats" a word used loosely by
left-wingers to identify any persons op-
posed to the present government. The
charge has some element of fact, since
several rightist bands are operating in
Greece, apparently without interference.
Populists claim that re-establishment
of order, which they concede is not COM
plete, has been one Of the outstanding
achievements of their regime. They
use this as primary argument for the
return of King George who, they claim,
will exert unifying influence on all
Greece
Distributed by The Associated Press)