The President of the Hellenic Republic, colloquially referred to in English as the President of Greece, is the head of state of Greece. The President is elected by the Hellenic Parliament, and his role is mostly ceremonial since the 1986 constitutional reform. The office was formally established by the Constitution of Greece in 1975, but has antecedents in the Second Hellenic Republic of 1924–1935 and the republic established by the Greek military junta in 1973–1974. The incumbent, since 2015, is Prokopis Pavlopoulos, serving his first term in office.
Odysseas Angelis was a Greek military officer, who served as head of the Greek military during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, and was selected by junta principal Georgios Papadopoulos as vice president of the junta-proclaimed republic in 1973. He was deposed along with Papadopoulos by junta hardliners in November 1973, and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for high treason in the Greek Junta Trials in 1975.
A referendum on restoring the monarchy was held in Greece on 3 November 1935. The proposal was approved by 97.9% of voters.
A seven-question referendum was held in Belarus on 24 November 1996. Four questions were put forward by President Alexander Lukashenko on changing the date of the country's independence day, amending the constitution, changing laws on the sale of land and the abolition of the death penalty. The Supreme Council put forward three questions on constitutional amendments by the Communist and Agrarian factions, local elections and the national finances.
The Greek royal family is a branch of the House of Glücksburg that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its first monarch was George I, the second son of King Christian IX of Denmark. He and his successors styled themselves "Kings of the Hellenes".
In the modern history of Greece, starting from the Greek War of Independence, the Constitution of 1975/1986/2001 is the last in a series of democratically adopted Constitutions.
The history of the Hellenic Republic constitutes three discrete republican periods in the modern history of Greece: from 1822 until 1832; from 1924 until 1935; and from 1974 through to the present. See also the constitutional history of Greece.
A constitutional referendum was held in Greece on 29 July 1973. The amendments would abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. The proposal was approved by 78.6% of voters with a turnout of 75.0%. This initiated the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
A constitutional referendum was held in Denmark on 6 September 1920. It was held in order to make changes to the constitution of Denmark from 1915 that had been made necessary to facilitate the reunification of Southern Jutland into the kingdom of Denmark. The changes were approved by 96.9% of voters, with a 49.6% turnout. A total of 614,227 of the 1,291,745 registered voters voted in favour, meaning that 47.6% of eligible voters had voted for the proposals, above the 45% required by the constitution.
A constitutional referendum was held in Poland on 25 May 1997. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new constitution. It was narrowly approved, with 53.5% voting in favour. Voter turnout was just 42.9%. Although the 1995 Referendum Act stated that a 50% turnout was required to validate the referendum, the Supreme Court ruled on 15 July that the constitution could be introduced.
A constitutional referendum was held in East Germany on 6 April 1968. The new constitution was approved by 96.4% of voters, with turnout reported to be 98.1%, and came into force on 9 April.
A constitutional referendum was held in Lithuania on 10 November 1996 alongside the second round of the parliamentary elections. Voters were asked whether they approved of an amendment to Article 47 of the constitution to add a paragraph allowing EU citizens to buy agricultural land. Although it was approved by 52% of those voting, voter turnout was only 39.7% and the referendum failed to pass the threshold of 50% of registered voters in favour.
The constitutional referendum was held on 19 March 1933.
Six referendums were held in Switzerland during 1938. The first four were held on 20 February; the first on amending articles 107 and 116 of the constitution to make Romansch an official language, which was approved by over 90% of voters and all cantons. The second was on a popular initiative "on urgent federal resolutions and the protection of people's rights" and was rejected by 85% of voters. The third was on a popular initiative on the private arms industry, and was also rejected by a wide margin, whilst the fourth was on a counter-proposal to the arms industry question, and was approved by voters. The fifth referendum was held on 3 July on the penal code, and was approved. The sixth and final referendum of the year was held on 27 November on a federal resolution on the transient order of the federal budget, and was approved by 72% of voters.
Four referendums were held in Switzerland during 1939. The first two were held on 22 January on a popular initiative on civil rights and a federal resolution on the restricted use of the urgency clause in the constitution. The third was held on 4 June on a constitutional amendment regarding the funding for government policies on defence and unemployment, and was approved by voters. The fourth was held on 3 December on a federal law on the employment status and insurance for federal civil servants, and was rejected by voters.
The Greek Constitution of 1973 was an amended version of the Greek Constitution of 1968 by Greek dictator Georgios Papadopoulos, with the aim of abolishing the Greek monarchy. Papadopoulos's rewrite of the 1968 constitution replaced the terms "parliamentary monarchy" and "king" with "republican democracy" and "president of Greece". The constitution was never enacted due to Papadopoulos's failed attempt at liberalisation of his regime.
