Christian Democracy (, ''Christianiki Dimokratia'') is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

founded on November 29, 1953, by Nikolaos Psaroudakis. Its political activity was banned during the dictatorship of the Colonels (1967-1974). It was re-established on 6 January 1975 as a social movement that activates its party character whenever it considers appropriate. Since the founding of the Movement, the newspaper "Christianiki" (originally with the title "Christianiki Dimokratia") has been continuously published, with the exception of the period when the dictatorship of the Colonels had imposed preventive censorship (21.4.1967 until the whole of 1969) and from December 1973 to July 1974, when the dictatorial regime closed the newspaper. In the national elections of 1956 the party participated only in the Samos district and got 449 votes and 0.01%. Its youth organization, Greek Christian Democratic Youth Organisation (Ελληνική Χριστιανοδημοκρατική Οργάνωση Νέων (Ε.Χ.Ο.Ν.), was established in 1961. In the National Elections of 1963 the party participated only in the Cania district and got 1267 votes and 0.03%. During the

Greek military junta of 1967–1974 The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels with CIA backing overthrew the caretaker government a month before scheduled elections wh ...

, its leader Nikos Psaroudakis was exiled by the regime in

Gyaros Gyaros ( ), also locally known as Gioura (), is an arid, unpopulated, and uninhabited Greek island in the northern Cyclades near the islands of Andros and Tinos, with an area of . It is a part of the municipality of Ano Syros, which lies primari ...

(). After the restoration of democracy, the party participated with

Centre Union – New Forces Centre Union – New Forces (EK-ND, Greek: ''Ένωσις Κέντρου-Νέες Δυνάμεις'' (Ε.Κ. – Ν.Δ.), ''Enosi Kentrou-Nees Dynameis'') was the continuation of the Centre Union party of George Papandreou after the military ju ...

in the national elections of 1974. In the national elections of 1977 it participated in the

Progress and Left Forces Alliance Progress and Left Forces Alliance (Greek: Συμμαχία Προοδευτικών και Αριστερών Δυνάμεων) was a coalition of left-wing parties in Greece. History The alliance was formed in November 1977 as a coalition of th ...

, a coalition of small

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

parties. In the elections for the European Parliament in 1981, the party received 1.15% of the total votes. Further, the National Elections of 1981, it received 0.15% of the total votes. It also participated in the elections for the European Parliament in 1984 and got 0.45%; in the national elections of June 1989, it got 0.2%. It supported

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...

in the national elections of 1985 and

Democratic Revival The Democratic Revival (''Greek: Δημοκρατική Αναγέννηση Dimokratiki Anagennisi'') is a political party in Greece, initially founded in 2004 by Stelios Papathemelis. It was deactivated after its leader participated in the le ...

in the national elections of 2007. In the national elections of May 2023, Christian Democracy participated in the coalition "Political Initiative" (Politiki Protovoulia- Πολιτική Πρωτοβουλία).

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://xristianiki.gr 1953 establishments in Greece Christian political parties Christian socialist organizations Democratic socialist parties in Europe Political parties established in 1953 Socialist parties in Greece