Charilaos Trikoupis - Political Power and Struggles

Political Power and Struggles

Among his first acts was the reform of election law and the establishment of the "dedilomeni principle" (αρχή της δεδηλωμένης): the "declared ", obliging the king to appoint the leader of the party with a plurality of parliamentary votes as the Prime Minister. The dedilomeni principle may have contributed to Greece quickly becoming a two-party state as smaller parties merged in an effort to form a plurality. Initially observed by convention, the dedilomeni has been incorporated into all subsequent Greek constitutions and ushered Greece into modern parliamentary politics. The opposing party to Trikoupis's Modernist Party was the conservative Nationalist Party led by Alexandros Koumoundouros.

With ever-changing alliances in parliament and fluctuating election results, Greece went through twelve prime ministers in the next six years. Trikoupis headed three of these short-lived governments. The 1875 general election on October 4 was considered the most honest election held to that date in Greece: Trikoupis lost. His short period in office meant he had no opportunity to begin carrying out the aggressive reform program which he had in mind. His foreign policy was to develop the resources of his country so as to create an army and a fleet, and thus to give Greece the power to acquire a leading place among the nations of Southeastern Europe.

It was not until 1882 that he was able to take measures to this end. On March 15, 1882 he became prime minister for the third time (his second period of office, two years earlier, had lasted only for a few months), and at once set about the task of putting Greek finance upon a firmer basis, and of increasing the prosperity of the country by making roads, railways and harbours. Despite his vision of a progressive nation with modern infrastructure, Greece in the latter part of the 19th century was a poor and backwards country.

His government was relatively stable and lasted for more than three years. During that time, he was able to push through an aggressive program of reforms. Trikoupis was a strong believer in the need to create an infrastructure to support the economy, and to attract foreign investment. A progressive program of road and railroad construction significantly improved internal communications. The most important of the works he campaigned for was the digging of the Corinth Canal. Another project that Trikoupis envisioned during that period was a bridge to connect the cities of Rion and Antirion across the Gulf of Corinth. The bridge was beyond the technical and financial abilities of the young Kingdom at that time; construction began more than a century later. The bridge, officially named the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge in his honour, was completed in 2004.

His difficulties, however, were now increased by the large expenditure that had been incurred for military preparations while he had been out of office as the result of the union effected between Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. The Greeks had demanded a compensation for this shifting of the balance of power from the Ottoman Empire and had prepared to enforce their demand by an appeal to arms. The Great Powers, however, interfered blockading the Piraeus to make Greece remain quiet. Trikoupis nevertheless believed that he could raise the value of Greek paper currency to par in a short time, and all his calculations were based upon that assumption. Unfortunately for him and his country, he was not able to make it happen.

He was defeated at the 1885 general election, but in the following year he resumed office and again took up the cause of economic and financial reform.