The Greek Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, nominated her for the post of President of the Hellenic Republic on Jan. 20, a post she was elected to hold with 261 MPs voting in favor in the 300-seat Parliament.

Katerina Sakellaropoulou was admitted to the Council of State in the mid-1980s and she was promoted to councellor on 2000. She was appointed as the vice president of the Council of State in 2015, while on October 2018 she was unanimously elected to the post of the president of Council.

She will take up a five-year term in the largely ceremonial post in March.

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 is the active chief executive 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. (ILKHA)