Centre Union

For other uses, see Centre Union (disambiguation).

Centre Union
Leader	Georgios Papandreou
Founder	Georgios Papandreou
Founded	1961
Dissolved	1974
Merger of	Liberal Party Progressive Agricultural Democratic Union National Progressive Center Union Popular Social Party
Succeeded by	Centre Union – New Forces
Ideology	Liberalism Venizelism Republicanism Centrism
Political position	Centre
Politics of Greece Political parties Elections

The Centre Union (EK, Greek: Ένωσις Κέντρου, Enosis Kentrou) was a Greek political party, created in 1961 by George Papandreou, senior.

The party was elected to power in 1963, with Papandreou as Prime Minister. In 1965, King Constantine forced Papandreou from the office following the Apostasia of 1965 plan, designed by him and executed by Center Union's politician Konstantinos Mitsotakis. He then formed a new government using the apostates, ex-members of EK, and installed Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas as prime minister. Athanasiadis attempted to gain a vote of confidence in parliament, but the EK party was split in two, and a political crisis ensued that led to the period of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.

The Centre Union Party was the last Venizelist party to hold power in Greece. The party nominally continued to exist until 1977 (after the Junta it was known as the Center Union - New Forces), when its successor Union of the Democratic Centre (EDIK) party was created. Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who had defected from the EK in 1965, formed a rival Venizelist party, known as the "Party of New Liberals", which merged with New Democracy in 1978.

Electoral performance

Year	Party Leader	Number of votes	Percentage of votes	Seats in the Hellenic Parliament	Position in Parliament
1961	Georgios Papandreou	1,555,442	33.7%	100 / 300	(in alliance with the Progressive Party (Greece), election result disputed); main opposition party
1963	Georgios Papandreou	1,962,074	42.0%	138 / 300	Minority government
1964	Georgios Papandreou	2,424,477	52.7%	171 / 300	Government

References

Richard Clogg, «Η Ένωση Κέντρου. Οι φιλελεύθεροι στην εξουσία;», in: Φιλελευθερισμός στην Ελλάδα. Φιλελεύθερη θεωρία και πρακτική στην πολιτική και στην κοινωνία της Ελλάδος, ed. Vivliopolion tis Estias, Athens, 1991, pp. 119–130

Liberalism in Greece

Ideology	Centrism Liberalism Modern Greek Enlightenment Liberal nationalism Liberal democracy Free trade Venizelism Megali Idea

Organizations	Liberal Club National and Social Liberation National Organization of Crete

Political Parties	Modernist Party Liberal Party National Unionist Party Liberal Democratic Union National Progressive Center Union Progressive Party Centre Union Centre Union – New Forces Union of the Democratic Centre Party of New Liberals Liberal Party (modern) Democratic Renewal Union of Centrists The Liberals Liberal Alliance Democratic Alliance Recreate Greece Drasi The River

People	Theophilos Kairis Adamantios Korais Dionysios Solomos Alexandros Mavrokordatos Charilaos Trikoupis Ioannis Psycharis Konstantinos Raktivan Eleftherios Venizelos Pavlos Kountouriotis Themistoklis Sofoulis Georgios Kafantaris Georgios Papandreou Sofoklis Venizelos Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Georgios Mavros Konstantinos Stephanopoulos Konstantinos Mitsotakis Stefanos Manos

Historical events	Greek War of Independence First National Assembly at Epidaurus 3 September 1843 Revolution Theriso revolt Goudi coup Movement of National Defence National Schism 11 September 1922 Revolution Greek resistance

Policies	Democratic education Modernization

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Centre Union

Electoral performance

References

See also