The Union of the Democratic Centre (, ''Enosi Dimokratikou Kentrou'', ''EDIK'') is a

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

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, ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The party was founded on 5 February 1976, two years after the end of the

Greek military junta of 1967–74 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 ...

, asserting itself to be the ideological successor of the pre-1967

Centre Union The Centre Union () was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a political party in Greece in the 1960s which held office from 1963 to 1965 and wa ...

party. EDIK was the result of the merger of

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 ...

and the Democratic Centre Union of

Ioannis Zidgis Ioannis or Ioannes (), shortened to Giannis or Yannis (Γιάννης) is a Greek given name cognate with Johannes and John (given name), John and the Arabic name Yahya (name), Yahya . Notable people with the name include: *John I Tzimiskes, Ioannis ...

. Its party leader at the time was

George Mavros Georgios Mavros () (Kastellorizo, 15 March 1909 – Athens, 6 May 1995) was a Greek jurist and politician. He served in several ministerial posts, and was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister in the 1974 national unity governm ...

who earlier led the Center Union – New Forces; Mavros, though, would join the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

(PASOK) a couple of years later. The party was led by Zidgis in the early 1980s, and has since adopted more

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

positions. With the Greek political spectrum shifting to the left, EDIK was increasingly marginalized, with PASOK replacing it as the country's second major party. The party's support collapsed in the elections of 1981, when it gained 0.7% of the vote and was shut out of Parliament. However, George Mavros was elected as an independent on a PASOK ticket, and again in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, when EDIK and PASOK officially co-operated. In 1989, EDIK ran independently and did not elect any representatives in parliament. From 1998 to 2011, the party president was Neoklis Sarris, and the party operated mostly as a forum of political analysis and public, ideological debates. In the 2009 legislative elections Neoklis Sarris ran for Democratic Revival. In 2012 the Union of the Democratic Centre was reconstructed. Stavros Karabelas was elected new president of the party and shifted the political characteristics of the party to the left. Consequently, in the May 2012 election the party participated as part of the

Coalition of the Radical Left The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Greece. ...

(SYRIZA).

Leaders

(1976-1977) *

(1977-1997) * Neoklis Sarris (1998-2011) * Stavros Karabelas (2012-today)

Elections

* 1977 – 16 seats * 1985 – 1 seat

External links

* {{Europe-liberal-party-stub Liberal parties in Greece Social democratic parties in Greece Radical parties Social liberal parties Political parties established in 1976 Centrist parties in Greece Components of Syriza