Legalization of the KKE was a symbolic step toward finally ending the tensions that had simmered under the surface of Greek politics since the Metaxas regime. In an uncertain climate, Karamanlis scheduled elections for November. Karamanlis's newly formed party, New Democracy (Nea Demokratia--ND), swept into power with 54 percent of the vote and 219 seats in parliament. Surprisingly, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Panhellinion Socialistiko Kinima--PASOK), which Andreas Papandreou founded on the basis of his anti-junta resistance group, the Panhellenic Liberation Movement, received nearly 14 percent of the popular vote with a platform opposing Western alliances and the monarchy.

The Center Union, the only major precoup party to appear on the 1974 ballot, gained 21 percent of the vote--but it was soon to be a spent force. The United Left Party (Enomeni Aristera), a coalition of the pro-Moscow and anti-Moscow communist factions that had separated in 1968, received 9 percent of the votes. Now other political questions loomed; most important of these were the fate of the monarchy and the disposition of the junta and its followers.