Ioannis Alevras - Center Union MP

Center Union MP

Alevras was first elected to Parliament as a candidate of the Center Union in the Greek legislative election, 1963. 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 Greek legislative election, 1964. 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.