April 24, 1956
REGARDING FILES ON CITIZENS: Yesterday’s session of Parliament was concerned with questions from the floor. Sophocles Venizelos said that many deputies from the Liberal Democratic Union had heard reports that citizens were being called to appear at police stations in order to justify their vote for the Democratic Union in the last elections. He asked the government to give strict orders and to make an example of the police officers who had engaged in such behavior. George Papandreou said that he had also heard similar reports and called for an end to these activities. The prime minister, Constantine Karamanlis, said that the government had inherited the practice of keeping files on citizens, and added that even though he had made no campaign promise to do so, he would put an end to the practice. The Democratic Union, he added, was a broad electoral alliance and that all citizens who had voted for it were not suspect. The government is determined, if there are specific charges, to impose penalties on wrongdoers. He said that if anyone had specific charges to lodge that these should be reported to him personally.
