The president of Greece, officially the president of the Hellenic Republic (), commonly referred to in Greek as the president of the Republic (, ΠτΔ), is the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The president is elected by the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

; the role has been mainly ceremonial since the 1986 constitutional reform. The office was formally established by the

Constitution of Greece The Constitution of Greece () was created by the Fifth Revisionary Hellenic Parliament in 1974, after the fall of the Greek junta and the start of the Third Hellenic Republic. It came into force on 11 June 1975 (adopted two days prior) and has ...

in 1975, but has antecedents in the

Second Hellenic Republic The Second Hellenic Republic is a modern Historiography, historiographical term used to refer to the Greece, Greek state during a period of republican governance between 1924 and 1935. To its contemporaries it was known officially as the Hellenic ...

of 1924–1935 and the

Greek junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a Right-wing politics, right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels with CIA backing 1967 Greek coup d'état, overthrew the caretaker gove ...

in 1973–1974 which predated the transition to the current

Third Hellenic Republic The Third Hellenic Republic () is the period in modern Greek history that stretches from 1974, with the fall of the Greek military junta and the final confirmation of the abolition of the Greek monarchy, to the present day. It is considered ...

Powers

The president is the nominal commander-in-chief of the

Greek Armed Forces The Hellenic Armed Forces () lead the military forces of Greece. The Hellenic Armed Forces consists of the Hellenic Army, the Hellenic Navy, Hellenic Air Force and Hellenic Coast Guard. The civilian authority overseeing the Hellenic Armed Fo ...

and occupies the first place in the country's

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of importance applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. For individuals, it is most often used for diplomats in attendance at very formal occasions. It can also be used in the context of ...

. Although the Greek Constitution of 1974 vested the presidency with considerable powers on paper, in practice presidents took a largely ceremonial role; the

prime minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...

is the active

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Greek government and the country's leading political figure. The president's role was formally brought into line with practice by the 1986 constitutional amendment, which reduced the official powers.

Election

According to Article 32 of the

Greek Constitution The Constitution of Greece () was created by the Fifth Revisionary Hellenic Parliament in 1974, after the fall of the Greek junta and the start of the Third Hellenic Republic. It came into force on 11 June 1975 (adopted two days prior) and has ...

, the president is elected for a five-year term by the

in a special session at least a month before the incumbent's term expires. Voting takes place in up to five ballots, separated by no more than five days. The first and second ballots require a

supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...

of 200 out of the 300-person body, dropping to 180 on the third. The fourth ballot requires a

simple majority Simple majority may refer to: * Majority, a voting requirement of more than half of all votes cast * Plurality (voting), a voting requirement of more votes cast for a proposition than for any other option * First-past-the-post voting, the single-win ...

of 151 votes. The fifth and last ballot is then contested between the two candidates with the most votes and decided by a

relative majority A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English) describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast. For ...

Oath of office

Before taking office, the president must recite an

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

in front of the Parliament according to the Article 33, paragraph 2 of the

Succession

According to the

, in the event of a temporary absence of the president of Greece on account of illness, travel abroad or similar circumstances, the speaker of the parliament serves as acting president, and exercises the powers of the state president until the president resumes their functions, and in the event that the presidency falls vacant as a result of death or resignation or for any other reason, until the election of a new president. The most recent person to have served as Acting President was Ioannis Alevras, following the resignation of

Constantine Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis (, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998) was a Greek statesman who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic. A towering figure of Greek politics, his political caree ...

due to the

constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the constitution, political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variat ...

in 1985.

Official residence

The official residence of the president of Greece is the Presidential Mansion, formerly the New Royal Palace, in central Athens.

History

The current

() was established in 1974 during the period of ''

metapolitefsi The Metapolitefsi (, , " regime change") was a period in modern Greek history from the fall of the Ioannides military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period shortly after the 1974 legislative elections. The metapolitefsi was ignited by ...

'', after the end of the

which had controlled Greece since the coup d'état of 21 April 1967. On 1 June 1973 the then leader of the military junta and

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

for the exiled

King Constantine II Constantine II (, ; 2 June 1940 – 10 January 2023) was the last King of Greece, reigning from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973. Constantine was born in Athens as the only son of Crown Prince Paul and C ...

Georgios Papadopoulos Georgios Papadopoulos (; ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greek military officer and dictator who led a coup d'etat in Greece in 1967 and became the country's Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. He also was the President of Greece under th ...

, abolished the

Greek monarchy Monarchy of Greece () or Greek monarchy () is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign (''Basileus'') reigns as the head of state of Greece. Monarchy in Greece lasted from 1832 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1973. Hi ...

and proclaimed himself President of the Republic. A staged

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on 29 July 1973 confirmed the regime change, and passed a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

which established a

presidential republic A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

. This attempt at controlled democratization was ended by Brigadier

Dimitrios Ioannidis Dimitrios Ioannidis ( ; 13 March 1923 – 16 August 2010), also known as Dimitris Ioannidis and as The Invisible Dictator, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the junta that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Ioanni ...

' overthrow of Papadopoulos on 25 November 1973. The republic and its symbols (but not the semi-presidential system) were formally maintained, but they were nothing more than a façade for the military regime. Lt. General

Phaedon Gizikis Phaedon Gizikis ( ; 16 June 1917 – 26 July 1999) was a Greek army general who was the last President of Greece under the junta from 1973 to 1974. Early life and military career Born in Volos, Kingdom of Greece, Gizikis was a career He ...

was appointed President of the Republic, but power was in the hands of Ioannidis, who ruled behind the scenes. After the fall of the junta and the return to civilian rule under

Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis (, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998) was a Greek statesman who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic. A towering figure of Greek politics, his political caree ...

in August 1974, the constitutional acts of the military regime were deemed invalid, and a new

was held on 8 December 1974, which confirmed the abolition of the monarchy. In the interim, Gizikis, remained in office as President. After the plebiscite, he was succeeded by the first elected president,

Michail Stasinopoulos Michail Stasinopoulos (; 27 July 1903 – 31 October 2002) was a Greek jurist and politician who served as the President of Greece from 18 December 1974 to 19 July 1975. A member of New Democracy, he was the first officeholder under the Third He ...

. A new constitution, promulgated on 11 June 1975, declared Greece a ''

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

ial

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

'' (or ''

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

'' – the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

δημοκρατία can be translated both ways). The first constitutional amendments were proposed by

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

in 1985, though dubious procedures triggering a

, and they reduced the presidential powers, which were acting as

checks and balances The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state power (usually law-making, adjudication, and execution) and requires these operations of government to be conceptually and institutionally distinguishabl ...

against the powerful position of the prime minister. The constitution was further revised in 2001, 2008, and 2019, and is still in force today.

List of presidents of the Third Hellenic Republic

References

Sources

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:President Of Greece Presidency of the Hellenic Republic 1974 establishments in Greece Heads of state of Greece