The New Greek Government
Although more than a month passed between the Greek general election and the opening of the new parliament, it was doubtful up to the last day what sort of administration would be formed. In the end the logic of the electors' choice, which had swung decidedly away from the Right, was allowed to prevail. A coalition of Centre parties under Gen. Plastiras has replaced the short-lived minority government of the " official " Liberals under Mr. Venizelos, which had unexpectedly been installed last month by an early gambit in the complicated game of cabinet-making. Mr. Venizelos has agreed in principle to serve under Gen. Plastiras—an agreement which he had already made and broken a month ago ; and Gen. Plastiras is obliged to accept this reinforcement of the right flank of his coalition, since without it he would not command a working majority in parliament. The coalition may nevertheless be more stable than might be suggested by the conventional intrigues which led up to it. All the four parties to it (led by four ex-premiers, from left to right: Gen. Plastiras, MM. Tsouderos, Papandreou, and Venizelos) have a strong incentive to preserve it, since the likeliest alternative is a repetition of the pre-war dictatorship. Whether Gen. Plastiras will succeed depends largely on his political sense, which has not Iways been reliable in the past: he has held power several times, but never before now by the orthodox processes of democracy.
Previous page
