1985 Greek presidential election

none Greece presidential 1980 Greek presidential election 1980 17, 23, 29 March 1985 1990 Greek presidential election 1990 Christos Sartzetakis Christos Sartzetakis (1989) cropped.jpg Independent Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 179 (needed 200) 181 (needed 200) 180+1 (needed 180) President President after election Konstantinos Karamanlis New Democracy (Greece) Christos Sartzetakis Independent The 1985 Greek presidential election was an indirect election for the position of President of the Hellenic Republic and was held by the Hellenic Parliament in March 1985. The election became central stage of the first constitutional crisis of the Third Hellenic Republic triggered by the Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who suddenly declared not to support Konstantinos Karamanlis for a second term as President of the Republic. Papandreou instead chose to back Christos Sartzetakis, a Supreme Court of Greece judge popular to Left voters. Papandreou's choice was controversial because it was accompanied by proposals for constitutional reforms designed to further increase the power of his position by reducing the presidential powers, which were acting as checks and balances against the powerful executive branch led by the prime minister. The election was conducted under a tense and confrontational atmosphere due to Papandreou's constitutionally dubious tactics. The opposition, New Democracy, led by Konstantinos Mitsotakis and Karamanlis' former party, deemed the vote illegal, with Mitsotakis threatening to remove Sartzetakis from the presidency if they won the upcoming parliamentary elections, thereby intensifying the constitutional crisis. The confrontation dominated and polarized the upcoming parliamentary election campaigns. However, Sartzetakis' election helped Papandreou and his socialist party (PASOK) to secure the June election despite Papandreou's failure to address Greece's worsening economy. After the election, all political parties accepted Sartzetakis as president, ending the constitutional crisis, despite a later court ruling that declared Sartzetakis's election unconstitutional. The constitutional amendments took effect in 1986. Background 1985 Greek constitutional crisis After coming to power in 1981, Papandreou began implementing an ambitious social, economic, and foreign agenda. Despite many achievements in updating the Greek laws, especially on the social issues, he failed to address the mounting structural problems of the Greek economy with trade deficits widening, unemployment increasing from 2.7% in 1980 to 7.8% in 1985, and annual inflation reaching 20%.IMF, Greece's inflation rateIMF, Greece's unemployment Public perception of Greece's economy worsened sharply during this period.According to a public opinion survey by Eurobarometer, Greeks who believed that the economy worsened than before increased from 37.7% in 1983 to 70.2% in 1985, while those who believed that the economy improved fell from 31.5% to 12.8% in the same period.Pappas 2014 32Koliopoulos Veremis 2009 164–166 On 6 March 1985, New Democracy announced that it would support Konstantinos Karamanlis's second term as President, and the communist party (KKE) declared that it would put forward its own candidate.San SimeraProto Thema Jan. 2025 The press anticipated that Papandreou would also support Karamanlis,Clogg 1985 105 having previously assured Karamanlis his support in person.Featherstone Papadimitriou 2015 86 However, Papandreou changed his mind at the last moment, siding with the left wing of PASOK, which did not want Karamanlis, and instead backed Christos Sartzetakis, who was a Supreme Court judge known for his principled handling of the 1963 murder of left-wing deputy Grigoris Lambrakis and viewed favorably by the Left. Sartzetakis's investigation became the main plot in Costas Gavras's 1969 movie Z based on the novel of Vassilis Vassilikos.Clogg 1985 105Featherstone Papadimitriou 2015 86 Papandreou announced this at the PASOK Central Committee on 9 March, surprising some of his ministers, much of his party's rank-and-file, and even Sartzetakis himself, who had not been told in advance.Clogg 1985 105 Later on, it was revealed that the supposedly spontaneous change of mind was to camouflage Papandreou's long-held constitutional designs since Sartzetakis not only knew about it well in advance but also that there had been two other judicial figures who rejected Papandreou's offer.McDonald 1985 134 At the same time, Papandreou announced plans for a constitutional reform, which rekindled the debate about the form of the republic and further polarized the political environment by damaging the consensus between the period's two dominant political parties, PASOK and New Democracy.Grigoriadis 2017 43 Scholars considered the proposal unnecessary and autocratic, reflecting the weakness of the Greek political system.Katsoudas 1987 28Featherstone 1990 183 Foreign observers were also worried that Papandreou unleashed a high-stakes gamble over the president question with potentially dire consequences for Greece and its allies. An electoral weakened Papandreou might lead to a collaboration with the communist party to form a government, in which communists shaping Greece's foreign policy and disrupting the communications in North Atlantic Treaty Organization influence the balance of power in the Mediterranean.Washington Post May 1985 Papandreou argued that it would be illogical for Karamanlis, who had influenced much of the Constitution of 1975, to preside over any constitutional reform, and informed him of this via his deputy, Antonios Livanis.Clogg 1985 106Featherstone Papadimitriou 2015 114 In response, Karamanlis resigned from the Presidency on 10 March 1985, two weeks before the termination of his term, and the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, Ioannis Alevras of PASOK, filling in as acting president.Clogg 1985 106 Mitsotakis accused Papandreou of creating a constitutional crisis to remove Karamanlis from office to establish a totalitarian constitution.Clogg 1985 107 Parliamentary votes for president Sartzetakis was the sole candidate since the political opposition from New Democracy, led by Mitsotakis, abstained. According to the Constitution of 1975, up to three rounds of a parliamentary vote were permitted for presidential candidates; the first two rounds required more than 200 votes out of 300 members of parliament, and the third, 180 votes out of 300.Greek Constitution 1975 631 If all three rounds failed, then new elections would be held. Having expelled six PASOK MPs for criticizing him, he could only rely on 164 of his own MPs, 12 MPs from KKE, and five independent MPs (about 181).Clogg 1985 109 The opposition raised the issue of whether Alevras should be precluded from the presidential vote and his deputy's rights while acting president, as Article 30 of the Constitution of 1975 stated that the president's office was incompatible with other offices. On the advice of Grigorios Kasimatis el Γρηγόριος Κασιμάτης, PASOK argued that there was no explicit provision in the constitution and put it to the PASOK-controlled Parliament, which allowed it.Clogg 1985 108–109 PASOK deputy Agamemnon Koutsogiorgas later argued in Parliament that the issue raised by constitutional scholars on Alevras' ineligibility to vote due to Article 30 in the Constitution applied only to elected presidents and would not have applied to Alevras.Clogg 1985 108–109 right Andreas Papandreou.jpg 136 Mitsotakis 1992.jpg 143 Portraits of (left) Andreas Papandreou and (right) Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who had an oral confrontation in the Parliament regarding the constitutional violations by Papandreou. The first two rounds, held on 17 and 23 March, failed to elect Sartzetakis. The elections were held amid high political tension; at one point, a New Democracy deputy briefly grabbed the ballot box.Clogg 1985 109 The third round took place on 29 March amid chanting PASOK supporters surrounding the building.Clogg 1985 109–110 Like in previous rounds, colored ballots (in blue color for Sartzetakis) and semi-transparent envelopes were used,Alivizatos 2011 530–531Clogg 1985 109Pantelis 2007 183 which led New Democracy chairman Mitsotakis to accuse Papandreou of violating the constitutional principle of secret ballot (Article 32).Greek Constitution 1975 631Kalyvas 1997 97 His concern was dismissed because PASOK controlled the majority in the Parliament, prompting Mitsotakis to confront Papandreou. Mitsotakis claimed Papandreou had no respect for the Parliament, and Papandreou responded, with Mitsotakis' role in the Iouliana of 1965 in mind, that the latter was the last person entitled to speak about respect.Clogg 1985 109 Despite vigorous protests from the opposition, PASOK members used colored ballots under strict surveillance to spot potential defectors.Kalyvas 1997 97 In the third round of voting on 29 March, Papandreou's party lost the support of two MPs, who Papandreou accused of taking bribes from Mitsotakis' party. Sartzetakis received 180 votes, which was the minimum stipulated by the constitution, and Alevras, as Speaker of the Parliament, cast the decisive vote.Clogg 1985 109–110 Mitsotakis denounced the vote as illegal, vowing that he would bring the legality of the process to the Council of State if New Democracy won the upcoming election.Clogg 1985 110–111 With Sartzetakis as president, Papandreou formally submitted the proposals for constitutional amendments by adding to the previous one the removal of a secret ballot for president.Clogg 1985 110 17 March 23 March 29 March Christos Sartzetakis Independent 179 181 180 Present but not voted 112 110 112 6 4 6 300 300 300 Richard CloggClogg 1985 Aftermath Election campaign of 1985 1985 Greek parliamentary election thumb|right|The logo of PASOK in the elections of 1981 Both parties continued their confrontations during the campaign for the June election, where political polarization reached new heights. Mitsotakis declared, "In voting, the Greek people will also be voting for a president"Clogg 1985 110 and also warned that there is a danger of sliding towards an authoritarian one-party state.Clogg 2013 194 Papandreou invoked the association of the opposition with the oppressive conservative governments with the slogan "Vote PASOK to prevent a return of the right."Clogg 1987 108 The communists, persecuted by the Right in the 1950s, protested against Papandreou's dwelling on the past, pointing out that the 1980s were not the same as the 1950s.Clogg 1987 108 The Economist magazine described Greece as a "country divided," tearing itself apart and opening the wounds of Greek Civil War.Close 2004 267 In the event, PASOK was re-elected with 45.82% of the vote, losing approximately 2.3% from 1981, while New Democracy increased its share of the vote by 4.98% to 40.84%.Koliopoulos Veremis 2009 166–167 Papandreou's gamble worked to his benefit because he gained from far-left voting blocks covering the losses from the centrist voters, and appealed to socialist voters who rejected Karamanlis's perceived hindrance of PASOK's policies.Clogg 1985 111–112McDonald 1985 134 Fallout After the election results, Mitsotakis accepted Sartzetakis as president and the head of state.Clogg 1985 112 Despite the political legitimacy of the president, the case also reached the courts. The plenary session of the Council of State ruled that the direct judicial review of the election of the President was inadmissible,Plenary ruling of Council of State however, the Athens One-member Magistrates' Court ruled in passing that the election of the President was "irregular" and "amounted to an abrogation of popular sovereignty"."[...] κατάργηση στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση του Εκλογικού Σώματος ως οργάνου εξουσίας και κατάλυση στην πράξη της αρχής της λαϊκής κυριαρχίας."Magistrate's Court ruling 563–574 The court also considered that the subsequent political legitimacy (following the victory of PASOK in the 1985 election) did not negate the unconstitutionality of the act."[...] ανεξάρτητα του ζητήματος της θεμελίωσης της νομιμοποιήσεως της εξουσίας του Προέδρου της Δημοκρατίας στη κανονιστική δύναμη των πραγμάτων που ρύθμισαν οι εκλογές και της αναγνωρίσεως του αποτελέσματος της ρυθμίσεως".Magistrate's Court ruling 574 The latter ruling is considered by constitutional scholar Christos Papastylianos as an example of the courts being able to deem an action as unconstitutional but unable to prevent it.Papastylianos 2023 25 Papandreou's constitutional proposals took effect in 1986.Greek Constitution 1986 Scholarly assessment Nikos Alivizatos, a constitutional scholar, considered the methods employed by PASOK to elect Sartzetakis in 1985 "unacceptable," and arguing that although blame the change in the presidency in 1985 did not cause the "corruption and moral crisis" that became apparent in the following years, the ousting of Karamanlis caused PASOK "to neglect the rules of the parliamentary game"Alivizatos 1993 68 and signaled that it "would not hesitate to overcome any obstacle in its aim to retain power."Alivizatos 2020 112 In similar lines, Richard Clogg and political scientist Stathis Kalyvas noted that while the actions by Papandreou did not directly threaten the democratic form of the Constitution but undermined its long-term legitimacy.Kalyvas 1997 97Clogg 1985 112 Takis Pappas, a political scientist, considered the events surrounding Sartzetakis's election as part of PASOK's strategy in the 1980s to bend or even disregard liberal institutions to the will of popular sovereigntyPappas 2014 28–29 that transformed Greece from a liberal democracy based on the Constitution of 1975 into a "populist democracy."Pappas 2014 36 While Papandreou contended that Karamanlis' removal was necessary for the constitutional revision, contemporary constitutional scholar Aristovoulos Manesis el Αριστόβουλος Μάνεσης argued the reverse that the constitutional revision was merely a pretext to justify the removal of Karamanlis, which would remind left-leaning voters, as the elections were approaching, that PASOK remained faithful to its revolutionary left-wing origins.Manesis 1989 13–14 Kevin Featherstone argued that Papandreou instigated a constitutional crisis, centered on the presidential election, just before the 1985 elections to divert the Greek electorate's attention away from the economic decline.Featherstone 1990b 108 Historians John S. Koliopoulos and Thanos Veremis el Θάνος Βερεμής argued that Papandreou's removal previous constitutional guardrails did not benefited him in improving the economy.Koliopoulos Veremis 2009 166, 169 His government applied to the EEC for a $1.75 billion loan to deal with the widening foreign trade deficit (8.7% of GDP).Koliopoulos Veremis 2009 167Liakos Doumanis 2023 332 Papandreou touted the loan as a life savior for the economy of Greece because if they had not, then the International Monetary Fund would have imposed more severe austerity measures.Siani-Davies 2017 35 However, in 1987 Papandreou reversed course and Greek economy started to fall behind in terms of convergence with EEC goals and economic competitiveness.Close 2014 158Liakos Doumanis 2023 332Featherstone Papadimitriou 2015 142Matsaganis 1999 9 Political scientist Stylianos Hadjiyannis argued that the concentration of power did not promote "democratic socialism" or ease the troubles of the Greeks, and instead became increasingly personalized around one person, Papandreou. As a result, supporters and opponents alike attributed to him responsibility for everything from economic crises and forest fires to international conflicts and even traffic jams.Chilcote Hadjiyannis Lopez Nataf 2015 167–168 This public perception was amplified by the mounting corruption scandals, especially the Koskotas and Yugoslav corn affairs. The scandals drew common criticism from both the right and the left, culminating after the June 1989 elections in a coalition government tasked with investigating PASOK's corruption (known as "katharsis") and leading to Papandreou's indictment.Koliopoulos Veremis 2009 169–170 References Notes Footnotes 20em Sources Constitutions of Greece National Printing Office Government Gazette (Greece) ΦΕΚ A 111/1975 Greek Constitution of 1975 el https://search.et.gr/el/fek/?fekId=685799 Greek Constitution 1975 National Printing Office Government Gazette (Greece) ΦΕΚ A 23/1986 Greek Constitution of 1986 el https://search.et.gr/el/fek/?fekId=709872 Greek Constitution 1986 Court decisions 2862/1985 Plenary decision Council of State 1985 Plenary ruling of Council of State 84464/1985 Αρχείον Νομολογίας Magistrate's Court (Μονομελούς Πλημμελειοδικείου Αθηνών) 1985 Magistrate's Court ruling 30em yes Books Alivizatos Nikos Nikos Alivizatos Το Σύνταγμα και οι εχθροί του στη νεοελληνική ιστορία 1800-2010 2011 ΠΟΛΙΣ Athens el 9789604353064 https://www.google.com/books/edition/%CE%A4%CE%BF_%CF%83%CF%8D%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BC%CE%B1_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CE%BF%CE%B9_%CE%B5%CF%87%CE%B8/3IxqygAACAAJ?hl=en Carabott Philip Sfikas Thanassis D. 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Randal 29 May 1985 The Washington Post Leader of Greek Communist Party Assails Ruling Socialists, Opposition https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/05/30/leader-of-greek-communist-party-assails-ruling-socialists-opposition/313fa088-7bec-4012-a82f-ac728d42c161/ Washington Post May 1985 Further reading Tassopoulos Ioannis A. 1999 New trends in Greek contemporary constitutional theory: a comment on the interplay between reason and will Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 10 223–247 Section IV.A https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1228&context=djcil President Category:March 1985 in Europe Category:1980s in Greek politics Category:Konstantinos Karamanlis Category:Andreas Papandreou Category:Konstantinos Mitsotakis Category:Presidential elections in Greece