Restoration of the Monarchy in 1935

In November 1935, the Greek monarchy was restored after eleven years of republic. The Second Hellenic Republic had been weakened by economic crisis, political instability and the bitter division between Venizelists and royalists. In March 1935, Venizelist officers attempted a coup, which failed, and Eleftherios Venizelos fled Greece, dying in exile in Paris the following year. The royalist side emerged stronger. In October 1935, General Georgios Kondylis, once a republican who had become a royalist, forced the government to resign, declared himself regent, and announced the abolition of the republic. A referendum was held on 3 November 1935. According to official results, around 98 percent voted to bring back the monarchy, but the vote is widely considered to have been rigged, as voting was not secret and ballots for the monarchy and the republic were printed in different colors. King George II, who had left Greece in 1923, returned to Athens later that month. He soon removed Kondylis and called elections, but political deadlock followed, opening the way for the Metaxas dictatorship.