Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas

Who was Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas?

Georgios Athanasiadis–Novas was a Greek lawyer, politician and Prime Minister.

Born in Naupactus, he obtained his law degree from the University of Athens. He was first elected to the Greek Parliament in 1926 representing his native prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania, and was repeatedly elected to office until 1964.

A lawyer by trade, he served as Minister for the Interior in 1945, Minister for Education in 1950 and Minister for Industry in 1951.

In 1961, however, he was one of many conservatives who joined the Center Union, in opposition to the corruption of right-wing governments at the time. In 1964, after EK came into power, he became Speaker of the Greek Parliament.

On July 15, 1965 he was appointed Prime Minister of Greece by king Constantine, after the latter dismissed George Papandreou, Sr., a move that is known as Apostasia of 1965. He was followed by many EK conservatives and with support from conservative National Radical Union MPs tried to form a government, but failed to get past a vote of confidence in parliament. He was replaced on August 20 of the same year.