President of the Hellenic Parliament

According to the Constitution of Greece, in the event of a temporary absence of the president of the Hellenic Republic 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 his 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 election of the Speaker of the Parliament is one of the most important moments in the operation of the Parliament, not only because the office of the Speaker of the Parliament is significant in itself, but also because the secret vote for the election of the Speaker constitutes the first opportunity for the assessment of the cohesiveness of the majority in Parliament. The Speaker is elected by the absolute majority of the total number of the MPs (i.e. by 151 votes). If this majority is not attained, the vote is repeated, and the candidate who gets the most votes is elected.

The Speaker of the Parliament directs the business of the Parliament, represents the Parliament, is responsible for the enforcement of disciplinary measures against parliamentarians, and generally, is the head of all the services of the Parliament and possesses all the responsibilities bestowed on him or her by the Constitution, the Standing Orders, or stemming from the principle of independence of Parliament. In other words, the Speaker has the final say on all matters that concern the inner workings of Parliament.

The Speaker is third in line in the Order of Precedence of the State, following the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister and preceding the leader of the Opposition. Additionally, the Speaker stands in pro tempore for the President of the Republic when the latter is abroad for a prolonged period of time, passes away, resigns, is deposed, or is hindered from performing his or her duties for any reason whatsoever.

The Presidium of Parliament is the group of individuals elected by the Hellenic Parliament to deal with the business of organizing and running the Parliament. This is provided for by Article 65 of the Constitution of Greece.

The Presidium is:

• The President of Parliament
• Seven Deputy speakers
• Three Deans
• Six Secretaries

^[2] It is mandatory that the fourth Deputy Speaker, one dean and one secretary belong to the major opposition party, and that the fifth Deputy Speaker and one secretary belong to the second-in-power opposition party, and that the sixth Deputy Speaker belong to the third-in-power opposition party, and that the seventh Deputy Speaker belong to the fourth-in-power opposition party. A member of the Presidium, who of course must be a parliamentarian, cannot be a member of the Cabinet or an Under-Secretary.

The Deputy Speakers perform their duties as assigned to them by the Speaker or as provided in the Standing Orders. The Deans assist the Speaker in organizational and executive matters of the Parliament, while the Secretaries assist the Speaker in the Parliamentary sessions and are responsible for whatever else the Speaker assigns to them.

This includes the presidents of the various Greek National Assemblies and the Legislative Corps (Βουλευτικό) during the Greek War of Independence.

Note: all dates are Old Style

This includes the presidents of the National Assemblies and the various legislative bodies under Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias and his successors.

Note: all dates are Old Style

Presidents of the National Assemblies and the Parliament (Βουλή)

Presidents of the Senate (Γερουσία)

When King Otto arrived in Greece, he was still a minor, and until 1835 the country was governed by a regency council. The regents ignored the so-called "Hegemonic Constitution [fr]" voted by the Fifth National Assembly, and when Otto assumed full powers, he ruled as an absolute monarch. The only "parliamentary" body was the 20-member Council of State (Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας), but its role was purely consultative and it was strictly controlled by the King.

The 3 September 1843 Revolution forced Otto to grant a constitution, which was promulgated by the "3rd of September" National Assembly [el]. The new constitution provided for a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament composed of the Senate (Γερουσία) and the Parliament (Βουλή).

The Parliament was to have no less than 80 members (in practice the number was between 127 and 142) with a three-year tenure (in practice some 2,5 years).

Note: all dates are Old Style

The Senate had a minimum of 27 members and could reach 39. Senators had to be over 40 years old, were named by the King and served for life. As a clearly monarchical instrument, it was abolished after 1862.

Note: all dates are Old Style

After the ousting of King Otto, elections were held to form the Second National Assembly [el], which effectively ran the country until the arrival of King George I in October 1863. The Assembly thereafter promulgated the Constitution of 1864 and dissolved itself on 16 November 1864. The new constitution was liberal, established the principle of popular sovereignty and defined the country's new form of government as a Constitutional monarchy with parliamentary democracy (βασιλευομένη δημοκρατία), but retained considerable executive powers for the king. The Senate was abolished, and a unicameral parliament (Βουλή) of 181 members with a four-year term was proclaimed as the country's sole legislative body.

The first decade was marked by frequent changes of government, especially due to the king's interference. A landmark was the adoption of the "dedilomeni principle", championed by Charilaos Trikoupis, in 1875, which forced the king to appoint only governments that commanded a parliamentary majority and had the "declared (dedilomeni) confidence of the parliament". The 1880s and 1890s were also marked by political instability. The Goudi coup of 1909 resulted in the arrival of Eleftherios Venizelos and the August 1910 elections for a Revisoniary Parliament. New elections for a new Revisoniary Parliament were held in November, and the Constitution of 1911 was promulgated in June 1911. Political upheaval in the form of the National Schism dominated Greek politics from 1915 on, resulting in the Asia Minor Disaster and the abolition of the monarchy in 1924.

Note: all dates are Old Style

The Fourth National Assembly [el], resulting from the December 1923 elections, declared the abolition of the monarchy and constituted itself as the Fourth Constitutional Assembly on 25 March 1924. It was abolished on 30 September 1925 after the coup d'état led by Theodoros Pangalos on 26 June 1925, and the first regular parliament of the Second Hellenic Republic came about only after Pangalos' fall, with the 1926 elections. The new parliament voted the Constitution of 1927, which also re-established the Senate, for which the first elections were held in 1929.

This includes the post-World War II period up to the establishment of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.

The fall of the junta brought about a major regime change (metapolitefsi), which included the abolition of the monarchy by referendum. The strong two-party system of PASOK and New Democracy made the parliamentary life of the Third Hellenic Republic the most regular in Greek political history, with the exception of the 1989–90 political crisis. After 2011, the prevailing political system was shattered through the effects of the prolonged Greek debt crisis, leading to the marginalization of PASOK and the election, for the first time, of a left-wing party, the Coalition of the Radical Left, to power in the January 2015 elections.

Portrait	Name	Entered office	Left office	Party		Comments
	Konstantinos Papakonstantinou [el]	December 9, 1974	October 22, 1977		New Democracy	Parliament (Fifth Revisionary) resulting from the 1974 elections
	Dimitrios Papaspyrou [el]	December 12, 1977	September 19, 1981		New Democracy	Parliament resulting from the 1977 elections
	Ioannis Alevras	November 17, 1981	May 7, 1985		Panhellenic Socialist Movement	Parliament resulting from the 1981 elections
		June 18, 1985	June 2, 1989			Parliament (Sixth Revisionary) resulting from the 1985 elections
	Athanasios Tsaldaris [el]	July 7, 1989	October 12, 1989		New Democracy	Parliament resulting from the June 1989 elections
		November 23, 1989	March 12, 1990			Parliament resulting from the November 1989 elections
		April 22, 1990	September 11, 1993			Parliament resulting from the 1990 elections
	Apostolos Kaklamanis	October 22, 1993	August 24, 1996		Panhellenic Socialist Movement	Parliament resulting from the 1993 elections
		October 8, 1996	March 14, 2000			Parliament resulting from the 1996 elections
		April 21, 2000	February 11, 2004			Parliament (Seventh Revisionary) resulting from the 2000 elections
	Anna Benaki-Psarouda	March 19, 2004	August 18, 2007		New Democracy	Parliament resulting from the 2004 elections, first female speaker
	Dimitris Sioufas	September 27, 2007	September 7, 2009		New Democracy	Parliament (Eighth Revisionary) resulting from the 2007 elections
	Philippos Petsalnikos	October 15, 2009	April 11, 2012		Panhellenic Socialist Movement	Parliament resulting from the 2009 elections
	Vyron Polydoras	May 18, 2012	May 19, 2012		New Democracy	Parliament resulting from the May 2012 elections
	Vangelis Meimarakis	June 29, 2012	December 31, 2014		New Democracy	Parliament resulting from the June 2012 elections
	Zoi Konstantopoulou	February 6, 2015	August 28, 2015		Coalition of the Radical Left	Parliament resulting from the January 2015 elections
	Nikos Voutsis	October 4, 2015	June 11, 2019		Coalition of the Radical Left	Parliament resulting from the September 2015 elections
	Konstantinos Tasoulas	July 18, 2019	April 22, 2023		New Democracy	Parliament resulting from the 2019 elections
		May 29, 2023				Parliament resulting from May 2023 elections
		July 4, 2023	Incumbent			Parliament resulting from the June 2023 elections

• History of modern Greece
• Politics of Greece

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament.

• Πρόεδροι της Βουλής και των Εθνοσυνελεύσεων, 1821–2008 [Presidents of Parliament and the National Assemblies, 1821–2008] (PDF) (in Greek). Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy. 2009. ISBN 978-960-6757-16-7. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help)