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The United Democratic Left (EDA, (Greek: Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Αριστερά) was a political party in Greece before the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.

Contents 1 Foundation 2 History 3 The party's end 4 Well known politicians of EDA 5 See also

The party was founded the July of 1951 by prominent center-left and leftist politicians, many of which were former members of ELAS.

The party participated in all the Elections in Greece from 1952 since 1964 and in the elections of 1958 it managed to become the leading party of the opposition.

In the elections of 1974 and 1964 EDA indirectly supported the Center Union against the National Radical Union. According to Constantine Karamanlis (see his personal notes in his archives), EDA suffered a loss of votes in the elections of 1961 because of certain incidents of fraud incited by the Palace. In 1963, just before the upcoming elections, Greek politics entered a protracted period of political and social unrest because of the assassination of EDA's deputy, Gregoris Lambrakis. EDA and the Center Union accused prime minister Constantine Karamanlis and his party, the National Radical Union, for the murder, which resulted in continuous and, sometimes, violent manifestations. An independent judicial inquiry held under prosecutor Christos Sartzetakis concluded that responsible for the assassination were far-right extremists who had no official affiliation to the government, but were linked with rogue elements in the Greek security forces.

After the enforcement of the dictatorship of 1967 the party was deemed by the regime outlaw and its members were persecuted.

After the restoration of democracy, ΕDΑ reappeared in the elections of 1974 in an alliance with KKE and other leftist parties under the leadership of Ilias Iliou, the most prominent politician of the left in Greece at the time. Following the alliance split, ΕDΑ never participated actively in Greek politics after 1977. Nevertheless, under the leadership of Manolis Glezos, the party took part in the elections of 1981 and 1985 in conjunction with the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

Well known politicians of EDA were:

• Dimitrios Pasalidis, the most prominent of the EDA co-founders and the leader of its group in the Parliament, since 1967.
• Gregoris Lambrakis
• Manolis Glezos
• Mikis Theodorakis
• Ilias Iliou
• Stefanos Sarafis.

• History of Modern Greece