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Part 44: The First Election


While Greece had officially been declared a Constitutional Monarchy with a fully functioning Legislature following the Fifth National Assembly in 1830, in truth power rested solely in the hands of King Leopold, Prime Minister Ioannis Kapodistrias, and the Cabinet. Though the Senate existed as a functioning Chamber of the Legislature, it was effectively a toothless institution filled with political appointees and loyalists who generally did as they were told by the King and Prime Minister. The other Chamber of the Legislature, the House of Representatives remained vacant as elections were regularly postponed. Reasons for this delay ranged from instability and unrest, shoddy communication with the many villages and isolated communities of the country, the lack of a permanent Parliament building for the Senate and House, and poor census data along with a myriad of other excuses.

Provided their families had a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, a sense of upward mobility, and they could live in relative peace as good Orthodox Christians, most Greeks didn’t care if they couldn’t vote. For a time, this was true as the common people generally went about their everyday lives without a thought paid to suffrage and representation, but as the years progressed and the final tenants of the 1830 Constitution continued to remain unfulfilled, many Constitutionalists and Liberals within Greek society grew increasingly worried that their liberties were being worn away. Soon, demonstrations began taking place in Athens with increasing prominence and regularity as these concerned citizens made their voices known to the King and the Cabinet that effectively ruled their country. Fortunately for all, their concerns would be assuaged when King Leopold and the Greek Government announced on the 11th of September 1836, that elections would be held in one year’s time to select members for the House of Representatives.

The motive for this announcement lay in the strong rapport Leopold and Kapodistrias had built in the preceding years that had lifted Greece out of the fires of war and into the Modern era. While they were by no means dictators or authoritarians, they felt it best to hold the reins of power until the people were ready to decide for themselves how they wished to be governed. By the Fall of 1836 it would seem that the people were finally ready and so the decision was made. Regardless of their rational, this pronouncement sent the Hellenic Government into a whirlwind of activity and debate as they discussed how to go about the election. Many questions swirled around them as they determined who would be able to vote, how long could they vote for, where could they vote, what candidates could they vote for, and so on, and so on. It is fortunate that some of these issues had been settled during the 1830 Assembly, such as suffrage and the distribution of representatives, but many still needed to be dealt with.

Under the Constitution of 1830, the right to vote was bestowed to all citizens above the age of 25, with citizenship being restricted to men of Hellenic descent residing in the territories comprising the Kingdom of Greece. This includes all the Greeks of the Morea, Southern Roumeli, and the Islands as well as all Greek refugees from Asia Minor, Macedonia, Thessaly and Thrace who fled the Ottoman Empire during the War and remain in the Greek State to this day. Those Greeks serving the Hellenic State from abroad in an official or professional capacity such as diplomats or merchants during the 1830 National Assembly were also bestowed citizenship in absentia. Finally, any other people professing loyalty to the Greek state and primarily residing within its borders following the war were granted citizenship as well. This included the former Philhellene volunteers who remained in Greece after the war’s end, the remaining Cretan Muslims, and the recent refugees from Albania who were later granted citizenship in December 1836.[1] According to the 1836 Census, the total male population of Greece was recorded at 496,258, with the number of voting age men at 308,129. As a result, just under a third of the country’s total population (31.1%) possessed the right to vote in the coming election.

As for the setting of the election, voting would take place on the 11th of September 1837 from sunrise to sunset. Voting would take place in any location prepared by the local municipal and provincial officials, such as a schoolhouse, local church, or town hall for instance. Corruption was a major concern for the Kapodistrian Ministry which proposed that any attempts to impede or influence voters through bribery or coercion was to be considered a criminal offense punishable by fines or even imprisonment. Additionally, attempts to falsify or rig the election for any one candidate would be considered a criminal offense punishable by fines or imprisonment. To ensure a fair voting process, Government officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be on site serving as election judges to aid voters in their endeavor and to guard against criminal behavior. Despite their best efforts, however, corruption and attempts to rig the elections were unfortunately inevitable.


Anyone could run for office provided they met all the necessary prerequisites, namely that they were citizens of the Kingdom of Greece, that they were above the age of 25, that they were residents of the district they were campaigning for, and that they register with their respective Nomos Advisory Council before election day. Candidates could come from any variety of backgrounds, any number of vocations, and any political ideology or affiliation. Prospective legislators could campaign for office in any manner they so choose, provided they did not engage in criminal behavior which would result in their immediate suspension of their candidacy. On election day, voters would be free to vote for the candidate of their own choosing from sunrise until sunset at which point voting would cease and all the collected votes would be sent to the Nomos capital where they would be tallied and recorded. When the process was finally completed, the winners would be announced to the general populace as soon as the results become readily available.

If elected, a Representative would serve for a 4-year term as prescribed in the 1830 Constitution with the start of their term beginning on the 1st of January 1838. Candidates or incumbent Representatives could run for as many terms as they were able provided they remain residents of their respective Nomos with new elections taking place every four years. Should the King decide to dissolve Parliament, new snap elections could be called a set time afterwards. Once in office, Representatives were free to join any caucuses, any political organizations, or any factions of legislators within the Chamber. Representatives would also be privy to economic restitution for their services and they would enjoy the legal protections their office includes such as protection from prosecution or imprisonment unless they were caught in flagrante delicto. Should a Lawmaker charged with an offense, they would be subject to review by their peers in the event of a criminal indictment against the Representative.

The House of Representatives would be a chamber whose minimum size would be no less than 80 members with the total number determined by population. A Nomos would be awarded a representative for every 10,000-people living within the Nomos. Based on the 1836 Census data, there would be 94 members in total for the first meeting of the House of Representatives from 1838 to 1842. The Nomos of Argolis-Corinthia would receive 6 Representatives, the Nomos of Arcadia would receive 12, the Nomos of Laconia would receive 6, the Nomos of Messenia would receive 6, the Nomos of Achaea would receive 8, the Nomos of Attica-Boeotia would receive 8, the Nomos of Phthiotis-Phocis would receive 6, the Nomos of Euboea would receive 4, the Nomos of Aetolia-Acarnania would receive 6, the Nomos of Arta would receive 4, the Nomos of the Archipelago would receive 9, the Nomos of Chios-Samos would receive 5, the Nomos of Chania would receive 6, and the Nomos of Heraklion would receive 8.

With the parameters for the election established, the information was disseminated to the Nomoi and the campaigns began in earnest early the following year. Within days, hundreds of men registered for office. Some were old war heroes from the Revolution, others were former political leaders or delegates to the many Assemblies during the war, others still were bankers, financiers, traders, and merchants who had invested heavily in the Greek cause. In many ways the candidates were among the most talented, the most powerful, and the most influential people in Greece. Most shared the same desire to strengthen Greece, to restore her to greatness and respectability on the world stage, the means of achieving that differed from person to person however.

Several weeks before election day, it became clear that the contestants were coalescing into one of two broad groups, the Kapodistrians, those who supported Prime Minister Ioannis Kapodistrias, and the Anti-Kapodistrians, those who opposed him. In many ways the Kapodistrians were advocates of the common man, they were modernizers, industrializers, small landowners, and former klephts. The Anti-Kapodistrians in turn were generally wealthy merchants, the ship lords from the islands, the landing owning Primates, a few Phanariotes, and several obstinate priests who all opposed the modernizing and centralizing policies of the Prime Minister. In a sense the Kapodistrians and Anti-Kapodistrians could be considered Proto-Political Parties in the early years of the Kingdom of Greece.

While groups had existed in Greek politics before, such as the Magnate faction and Military faction, or the Moreots, Roumeliotes, and the Islanders, they were more akin to caucuses of men from similar geographic or economic backgrounds rather than actual political parties like the Whigs and Tories of the British Parliament. It is a testament to Ioannis Kapodistrias’ popularity and divisiveness as a leader that Greek politics in the early years of the Kingdom became more about support for or opposition against the Count of Istria rather than an innate political difference between the leading men of the country. Still, the divide between them was deep and it was real with fights occasionally breaking out between the groups and their supporters.


It was clear that this split would not be resolved easily as the divide was spurred on by the interference of foreign powers, namely Britain and France who continued to interject into Greek affairs.[2] Kapodistrias remained a constant concern to the leading men of London and Paris who saw the Count of Istria as a Russian Proxy regardless of his stated intentions, and so they worked tirelessly to oppose him. Even the stern diplomacy and relative popularity of Leopold wasn’t enough to deter the most determined British and French efforts against Kapodistrias who donated to his opposition and established media outlets in the country denouncing the Prime Minister as a tyrant. Strangely enough their efforts to destroy Kapodistrias met with little success across the country given his immense popularity and support among the general populace. Thankfully, the matter was mitigated to simple political bickering and the occasional scuffle rather than outright conflict and violence due to the careful navigation of Kapodistrias who announced he would retire from public life at the end of the next term in 1842 after 15 years of service to his country. Ultimately, the election came and went without controversy or incident, for the most part, and for the next few weeks the results slowly made their way in. When all was said and done a total of 63 Kapodistrians and 31 Anti Kapodistrians had won elections who made their way to Athens in the following days and weeks.

With the election over the old system of governance by the King, Kapodistrias, and the Cabinet was gradually replaced with a joint system of governance alongside the newly elected Legislature. After years of debate, planning, and preparation, the elected members of the House of Representatives stood poised to take their place in the Hellenic Parliament, the only obstacle remaining was the oath of office. In a spectacle not to be forgotten, King Leopold, addressing the joint Chambers of the Parliament in his heavily accented Greek, congratulated the men on their victories and tasked them with doing their utmost to serve Hellas and the Hellenes. His speech complete, the King promptly read aloud the oath of office, which the assembled legislators repeated in kind and with that, the First Parliament of the Kingdom of Greece had taken its place in the Greek Government.

Next Time: Victoria and Leopold


Author's Note: Special thanks to everyone reading this timeline, everyone commenting on this timeline, and everyone providing critiques, criticism, and advice to me for this timeline. I couldn't do this without your support.

[1] Technically King Leopold, Queen Marie, and their respective entourages were included in this last group as well.

[2] Even with Leopold as King of Greece I find it hard to believe that Britain, France, and Russia would remain detached from the affairs of the Greeks, especially if Ioannis Kapodistrias is still around and in a position of power. Leopold was in many ways treated as a parvenu King of a parvenu country in OTL and I see no reason why he would be treated any differently in Greece in TTL, especially when the Powers have a vested interest in interfering in his country's elections, ie to limit Russian influence.