Greece is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the President of Greece is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government within a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament. Between the restoration of democracy in 1974 and the Greek government-debt crisis, the party system was dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy and the social-democratic PASOK up until 2012. From 2012 to 2024, the initially anti-austerity left-wing party Syriza, with its first election victory in January 2015, has taken the previous dominant place of PASOK in the party system.
The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Constitution of Greece, which describes Greece as a "presidential parliamentary republic", includes extensive specific guarantees of civil liberties and vests the powers of the head of state in a president elected by parliament. The Greek governmental structure is similar to that found in many other Western democracies, and has been described as a compromise between the French and German models. The prime minister and cabinet play the central role in the political process, while the president performs some executive and legislative functions in addition to ceremonial duties. Voting in Greece is officially compulsory, but this is not enforced.
Executive branch The Cabinet of Greece, which is the main organ of the government, includes the heads of all executive ministries, appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister.
President
The president of the republic is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term (election last held 12 February 2025), and a maximum of two terms in office. When a presidential term expires, Parliament votes to elect the new president. In the first two votes, a majority (200 votes) is necessary. The third vote requires a (180 votes) majority.
If the third vote is fruitless, Parliament is no longer dissolved. The election for president is repeated immediately with a majority required for the initial vote, an absolute majority for the second one (151 votes) and a simple majority for the third and final one. The system is so designed as to promote consensus presidential candidates among the main political parties.
The president has the power to declare war, to grant pardon (forgiveness) and to conclude agreements of peace, alliance, and participation in international organizations; upon the request of the government a simple parliamentary majority is required to confirm such actions, agreements, or treaties. An absolute or a three-fifths majority is required in exceptional cases (for example, the accession into the EU needed a majority).
The president can also exercise certain emergency powers, which must be countersigned by the appropriate cabinet minister. The president may not dissolve parliament, dismiss the government, suspend certain articles of the constitution, issue a proclamation or declare a state of siege without countersigning by the prime minister or the appropriate cabinet minister. To call a referendum, they must obtain approval from parliament. They can appoint ministers after they are recommended by the prime minister.
Governments tend to nominate presidential candidates outside their ideological space, since the election of a president used to require at least a majority or it resulted in snap elections, and the president is also supposed to unite and represent the entire nation. Sometimes they are chosen from outside the political ranks. Currently, the president of Greece is Konstantinos Tasoulas, the 9th president of Greece since the restoration of democracy in 1974.
Prime minister
The prime minister is elected by the Parliament and is usually the leader of the party controlling the absolute majority of MPs. According to the Constitution, the prime minister safeguards the unity of the government and directs its activities. Although officially holding the second highest rank as head of the Hellenic government and not the Republic, they are the most powerful person of the Greek political system and recommends ministers to the president for appointment or dismissal. Although officially just head of government, not of state, they conduct professional business and the president is just the supreme executive.
Maintaining the support of parliament Greek parliamentary politics hinge upon the principle of the "" (pronounced "dhedhilomeni"), the "declared confidence" of Parliament to the prime minister and his/her administration. This means that the president of the Republic is bound to appoint, as prime minister, a person who will be approved by a majority of the Parliament's members (i.e. 151 votes). With the current electoral system, it is the leader of the party gaining a plurality of the votes in the Parliamentary elections who is appointed prime minister.
An administration may at any time seek a "vote of confidence". Conversely a number of members of parliament may ask that a "vote of reproach" be taken. Both are rare occurrences with usually predictable outcomes as voting outside the party line happens very seldom.
Legislative branch
Greece elects a legislature by universal suffrage of all citizens over the age of 17 (changed in 2018). The Greek Parliament (Βουλή των Ελλήνων) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term by a system of semi-proportional representation in 48 multi-seat constituencies, 8 single-seat constituencies and a single nationwide list. 285 of the 300 seats are determined by constituency voting, and voters may select the candidate or candidates of their choice by marking their name on the party ballot. The remaining 15 seats are filled from nationwide party lists on a top-down basis and based on the proportion of the total vote each party received.
Greece uses a complex reinforced proportional representation electoral system which discourages splinter parties and makes a parliamentary majority possible even if the leading party falls short of a majority of the popular vote. Under the current electoral law, any single party must receive at least a 3% nationwide vote tally to elect members of parliament (the so-called "3% threshold"). The largest party is rewarded with a "sliding scale" bonus. It receives 20 extra seats once it reaches 25% of the vote, and then 1 extra seat for every 0.5%, until a maximum bonus of 50 seats (out of 300), ostensibly to ensure elections return viable governing majorities.
At various times throughout the years, the system has been changed, and parties sometimes fall short of the 151 seats required to have a majority, so they create coalitions. The law in its current form assists the first past the post party to achieve an absolute (151 parliamentary seats) majority, with substantially less than 50% of the vote. The electoral law can be changed by simple parliamentary majority, but a law so changed will not come into effect for two election cycles unless passed by a majority in the Hellenic Parliament.
Judicial branch
In Greece the judicial branch is divided into civil, and administrative courts. Civil courts judge civil and penal cases, whereas administrative courts judge administrative cases, namely disputes between the citizens and the State.
The judicial system of Greece comprises three Supreme Courts: the Court of Cassation (Άρειος Πάγος), the Council of State (Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας) and the Chamber of Accounts (Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο). These high courts are composed of professional judges, graduates of the National School of Judges. The way the judges are gradually promoted, until they become members of the Supreme Courts, is defined by the Constitution and the existing laws. The presidents and the vice-presidents of the three Supreme Courts are chosen by the Cabinet of Greece among the serving members of each of the Supreme Courts.
The Court of Cassation is the supreme civil and penal court, whereas the Council of State is the supreme administrative court. The Chamber of Accounts has an exclusive jurisdiction over certain administrative areas (for example it judges disputes arising from the legislation regulating the pensions of civil servants) and its decisions are irrevocable. This means that they are not judged at second instance by the Council of State.
Sometimes, the Supreme Courts take contradictory decisions or they judge differently the constitutionality of a legal provision. These disputes are resolved by the Supreme Special Court, whose composition and jurisdiction is regulated by the Constitution (article 100). As its name reveals, this court is not permanent and it sits when a special case belonging to its jurisdiction arises. When the Supreme Special Court sits, it comprises eleven members: the presidents of the three Supreme Courts, four members of the Court of Cassation and four members of the Council of State.
When it judges the constitutionality of a law or resolves the disputes between Supreme Courts, its composition comprises two more members: two professors of the Law Schools of Greece. The Supreme Special Court is the only court which can declare an unconstitutional legal provision as "powerless" (something like "null and void"), while the three Supreme Courts can only declare an unconstitutional legal provision as "inapplicable" to that particular case. The Supreme Special Court is also the Supreme Electoral Court, judging pleas against the legality of the legislative elections.
Administrative divisions
Greece is divided into 13 administrative regions which are further divided into 74 regional units. The 13 administrative regions (Περιφέρειες, Periféries) are each headed by a popularly elected governor (Περιφερειάρχης, Periferiárhis) and presided over by the popularly elected regional council (Περιφερειακό Συμβούλιο, Periferiakó Simvoúlio). Each of the 74 regional units (Περιφερειακές Ενότητες, Periferiakés Enóti̱tes) are headed by a vice governor (Αντιπεριφερειάρχης, Antiperiferiárhis), who is taken from the same political party as the elected governor. The 13 regions are mostly political and geographically. Greece is home to nine regions: Western Thrace, Macedonia, with the capital of Thessaloniki; Epirus; Central Greece; Peloponnese; the Ionian Islands; the Aegean islands; Crete; and Athens.
Greece's 74 regional units are divided into 325 municipalities (Δήμοι, Dhími) which are led by a popularly elected mayor (Δήμαρχος, Dhímarhos) and municipal council (Δημοτικό Συμβούλιο, Dhimotikó Simvoúlio). Each municipality is divided into small municipal units (Δημοτικές Ενότητες, Dhimotikés Enótites) which in turn contain municipal communities (relatively urban communities) and local communities (relatively rural communities). Municipal councils select community members to serve on more local town hall councils which focus on local needs in the municipality's communities and give local feedback to the municipal government.
Although municipalities and villages have elected officials, they often do not have an adequate independent revenue base and must depend on the central government budget for a large part of their financial needs. Consequently, they are subject to numerous central government controls. This also leads to extremely low municipal taxes (usually around 0.2% or less).
Greece also includes one autonomous region, the monastic community of the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos.
Notable politicians of Greece
Former
Evangelos Averoff Georgios Christakis-Zografos Epameinondas Deligiorgis Theodoros Deligiannis Ion Dragoumis Stephanos Dragoumis Dimitrios Gounaris Ilias Iliou Dimitrios Kallergis Konstantinos Kanaris Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Ioannis Kapodistrias Konstantinos Karamanlis Ioannis Kolettis Alexandros Koumoundouros Leonidas Kyrkos Grigoris Lambrakis Spyros Markezinis Alexandros Mavrokordatos Andreas Metaxas
Ioannis Metaxas