Ioannis Alevras

Ioannis Alevras ( el, Ιωάννης Αλευράς; 1912 – 6 April 1995), sometimes spelled Yannis Alevras, was a Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement politician and Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, who served as acting President of Greece in March 1985.

Syndicalist

Before becoming a politician, Alevras was employed at the Bank of Greece. He was a prominent syndicalist and a key figure in the foundation of OTOE (Federation of Bank Employee Organizations of Greece) in 1955. OTOE united all relevant trade unions along the lines of craft unionism with Alevras at its head for several years.

Center Union MP

Alevras was first elected to Parliament as a candidate of the Center Union in the 1963 Greek legislative election. His party won the elections in a narrow victory (138 seats out of 300, with the National Radical Union having 132) and party leader George Papandreou became Prime Minister of Greece on 8 November 1963.

Because no party had the absolute majority in the Parliament, Papandreou carried out the 1964 Greek legislative election. Alevras successfully sought re-election while his party won the elections with a landslide majority (171 seats out of 300, with the alliance of the National Radical Union and the Progressive Party only having 107 seats).

Alevras defended fellow Center Union MP Andreas Papandreou, son of George, during his trial for the Aspida scandal. The Aspida Group allegedly comprised officers of the Hellenic Army, who belonged to the centre or the left and wanted to assume control of an army dominated at the time by right-wing officers who had fought in the Greek Civil War against the left. The alleged scandal had come to public notice in 1965 and Andreas Papandreou was accused of being a member of this conspiracy.

The Aspida scandal led to the so-called Apostasia of 1965 and the fall of the Papandreou government. However the 1964 Parliament remained in place until the coup d'état of 21 April 1967. During the resulting Greek military junta of 1967-1974, Alevras was imprisoned for resisting the new regime.

PASOK founding member

With the Metapolitefsi, the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship, Alevras resumed his political career. He joined the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), a new Party under Andreas Papandreou, and achieved re-election in 1974 Greek legislative election. He was one of only 12 MPs elected from his Party. PASOK came third in the elections with New Democracy electing 220 MPs and the Center Union - New Forces electing 60.

He was re-elected in the 1977 Greek legislative election. This time PASOK came second with 93 MPs while New Democracy remained in government with 171 seats in Parliament. Continuing the rise of its popularity, PASOK came first in the 1981 Greek legislative election with 171 MPs while New Democracy only elected 115. Andreas Papandreou became Prime Minister while Alevras was elected Speaker of the Greek Parliament.

Acting President of Greece

In 1985 after President Constantine Karamanlis resigned, Alevras served as acting President, per the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Greece, causing a controversy over the matter whether his duties as Speaker should be suspended during his tenure as acting President (10–30 March 1985) and if he was eligible to vote in the election of the new President. The issue became all the more controversial, as Christos Sartzetakis was elected with the minimum number of votes required (180 out of 300) and would have failed to be elected, were it not for Alevras' vote.

Later political career

Later that year, PASOK won the 1985 Greek legislative election

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