History

Foundation

The first members of the Party were the main organizers of the collapse of the Military Junta of 1967–1974 and the re-establishment of Democracy in 3 September 1974 . Its founder was Andreas Papandreou, son of the late Greek liberal leader and three times Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou Sr. . Its founding mottos were "National Independence, Popular Sovereignty, Social Emancipation, Democratic Process." Andreas Papandreou was offered the leadership of the liberal political forces immediately after the restoration of Democracy, but in a risky move he declined, so the leadership was assumed by Georgios Mavros. Papandreou, a very powerful orator and charismatic leader, explicitly rejected the ideological heritage of his father, and stressed the fact that he was a socialist, not a liberal .

The First Years

At the November 1974 elections the Party received only 13.5% of the vote and won 15 seats (out of 300), coming third behind the center-right New Democracy Party of Konstantinos Karamanlis and the centrist Center Union - New Forces of Georgios Mavros. At the November 1977 elections, however, the PA.SO.K. eclipsed the centrists, doubled its share of the vote and won 92 seats, becoming the main opposition Party.

In Government

At the October 1981 national elections the PA.SO.K. won a landslide victory with 48% of the vote and capturing 173 seats; it formed the first socialist government in the history of Greece since 1924. Although Papandreou had campaigned for withdrawal of Greece from NATO and the European Economic Community, after a strong request by the rest of the Party members and its supporters, changed his policy towards both institutions. He proved to be an excellent negotiator when it came to securing benefits and subsidies for Greece from the EEC. For example, in 1985 he openly threatened Jacques Delors to veto the entry of Spain and Portugal in the Community in order to secure more monetary aid for Greece .
In 1986, the PA.SO.K. government amended the Greek constitution to remove most powers from the President and give wider authority to the Prime Minister and the Executive Government. Civil marriages, not consecrated by religious ceremony, were recognized as equally valid with religious weddings. The left-wing Resistance movement against the Axis in World War II was recognized after, and leftist resistance fighters were given state pensions, while political refugees of the Greek Civil War were finally given permission to return to Greece . The National Health System was created and various repressive laws of the anti-communist postwar establishment were abolished, wages were boosted, an independent and multidimensional foreign policy was pursued, many reforms in Family Law to strengthened the rights of women and the Greek Gendarmerie was abolished in 1984. At the June 1985 elections, received 46% of the vote and won 161 seats, thus securing a stable parliamentary majority for its second term in power.
It continued to be popular for much of its second term, especially in March 1987 when Andreas Papandreou vigorously and successfully handled a crisis in the Aegean with Turkey. By late 1988 however, both the government's popularity and Papandreou's health had declined. The former, because of press reports of financial and corruption scandals that surfaced, implicating Ministers and, allegedly, Andreas Papandreou himself as well as because of fiscal austerity measures imposed after the Keynesian policies of the first term. PA.SO.K. lost the June 1989 elections with 40% of the vote while the opposing New Democracy got 44,3%. The PA.SO.K. had changed the electoral law before the elections, making it harder for the leading Party to form a majority government, so the legislature was deadlocked. Its share of the vote in June 1989 was not considered a failure; for months there was a concerted mudslinging aiming the Party (mainly by the conservative press) .
Another election in November produced a very similar result. After a brief period of a grand coalition government, in which the PA.SO.K. participated, a third election in April 1990 brought New Democracy back to power. Despite a 7% lead in popular vote over the PA.SO.K., New Democracy could only secure a marginal majority in the Hellenic Parliament, electing 152 MPs out of a total of 300; The PA.SO.K. had secured a larger number of representatives on a lower percentage of votes, as well as a smaller lead, in the elections of 1985, under the previous electoral system. Its representation in the Parliament shrunk to 121 M.P.s in 1990.
In opposition, the PA.SO.K. underwent a leadership crisis when Andreas Papandreou was prosecuted over his supposed involvement in the Bank of Crete scandal. He was eventually acquitted and, in a dramatic reversal of fortunes, at the October 1993 elections he led the Party to another landslide victory. He returned to office with 47% of the vote and his re-election was considered by many a vote of confidence of the public against his prosecution. In November 1995, however, Papandreou's health began to deteriorate and the Party was racked with leadership conflicts.