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 (with the exception of the Constitutions of 1968 and 1973 imposed by a
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
).
Greek War of Independence
During the Greek War of Independence, three constitutional texts (Constitutions of 1822, 1823 and 1827) were adopted by the
Greek National Assemblies
The Greek national assemblies ( el, Εθνοσυνελεύσεις) are representative bodies of the Greek people. During and in the direct aftermath of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832), the name was used for the insurgents' proto-parl ...
, the national representative political gatherings of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
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 ...
revolutionaries. These constitutions were influenced by:
*the French Constitutions of
1793
The French Republic introduced the French Revolutionary Calendar starting with the year I.
Events
January–June
* January 7 – The Ebel riot occurs in Sweden.
* January 9 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first to fl ...
and
1795
Events
January–June
* January – Central England records its coldest ever month, in the CET records dating back to 1659.
* January 14 – The University of North Carolina opens to students at Chapel Hill, becoming t ...
,
*the French
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789, links=no), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolu ...
,
*the Draft Constitution of
Rigas Velestinlis,
*the three Constitutions of the
Ionian Islands.
A year before the adoption of the
Greek Constitution of 1822, local Assemblies had ratified the so-called
Greek local statutes, such as the
Senate Organization of Western Greece, the
Legal Order of Eastern Greece and the
Peloponnesian Senate Organization.
From the absolute to the constitutional monarchy (1833–1924)
![Constitution 1844](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Constitution_1844.jpg)
King
Otto
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded f ...
governed for more than 10 years (including the first two years under a
regency council
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...
) without any constitutional restrictions, since the "hegemonical"
Greek Constitution of 1832
Greek may refer to:
Greece
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 ...
was never implemented. On 3 September 1843, the infantry, led by Colonel
Dimitrios Kallergis and the Revolutionary captain
Ioannis Makriyannis,
assembled in the square in front of the palace in Athens. Eventually joined by much of the population of the small capital, the rebellion refused to disperse until the king agreed to grant a constitution. Left with little recourse, King Otto gave in to the pressure and agreed to the demands of the crowd over the objections of his opinionated
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. This square was renamed to Constitution Square (
Syntagma Square) to commemorate the events of September 1843.
The
Greek Constitution of 1844
The first constitution of the Kingdom of Greece was the Greek Constitution of 1844. On 3 September 1843, the military garrison of Athens, with the help of citizens, rebelled and demanded from King Otto the concession of a Constitution.
The ...
defined Greece as a
constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
, providing for a
bicameral parliament, consisting of a
Chamber of Deputies and a
Senate. The
Greek Constitution of 1864
The Second National Assembly of the Hellenes took place in Athens (1863–1864) and dealt both with the election of a new sovereign as well as with the drafting of a new Constitution, thereby implementing the transition from constitutional monarch ...
was somewhat more liberal, and transferred most of the real power to the parliament. In 1874
Charilaos Trikoupis
Charilaos Trikoupis ( el, Χαρίλαος Τρικούπης; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895.
He is best remembered for introducing the vote of c ...
published a manifesto entitled "Who's to blame?" (Τίς πταίει;), naming King
George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgor ...
as the answer. Specifically, he condemned the king for bypassing parliamentary opinion in his selection of Prime Ministers. The article landed him briefly in jail, but also boosted his popularity significantly. A year later, on 8 May 1874 he mustered a parliamentary plurality and George reluctantly named him as Prime Minister. Thanks to Trikoupis' article, a new constitutional principle, the Principle of the Stated (Αρχή της Δεδηλωμένης) was recognized and implemented: the king was required to give the largest party in parliament first choice of forming a government. In 1911
Eleftherios Venizelos amended 54 non-fundamental of the 110 articles of the Constitution, trying to bring the constitution in line with his
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
's principles. Nevertheless, the
National schism
The National Schism ( el, Εθνικός Διχασμός, Ethnikós Dichasmós), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos regarding the foreig ...
of 1916 caused a huge constitutional crisis, as two governments were formed: one in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
and one in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
.
The Second Hellenic Republic and the Restoration (1925–1941)
![Greek Constitution of 1927 - front page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Greek_Constitution_of_1927_-_front_page.png)
The
Constitution of 1925 provided for a Republic in accordance with the results of the plebiscite of
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...
. Nonetheless, on 24 June 1925, officers loyal to
Theodoros Pangalos, fearing that the political instability was putting the country at risk, overthrew the government in a coup and violated the Constitution. On 24 August 1926, a counter-coup deposed him and
Pavlos Kountouriotis
Pavlos Kountouriotis ( el, Παύλος Κουντουριώτης; 9 April 1855 – 22 August 1935) was a Greek rear admiral during the Balkan Wars, regent, and the first President of the Second Hellenic Republic. In total he served four times ...
returned as president.
Since the previous Constitution was not fully implemented, it was the
Constitution of 1927 which formally established the Second Hellenic Republic and provided for a largely ceremonial president as
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
.
[See ]
After the
plebiscite of 1935, King
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
was restored, but the Third Revisionary Parliament of 1936 did not have the time to replace or amend the Constitution of the Republic. Instead, the Constitution of 1911 was restored, ostensibly on a temporary basis. The elections of 1936 had produced a political deadlock and, thereby, George II appointed
Ioannis Metaxas
Ioannis Metaxas (; el, Ιωάννης Μεταξάς; 12th April 187129th January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for t ...
to be interim prime minister. Widespread industrial unrest in May allowed Metaxas to declare a
state of emergency. On 4 August, he suspended the parliament indefinitely and suspended various articles of the constitution, with the king's approval. For all intents and purposes, Metaxas was now a dictator. No constitutional amendment was adopted before
Germany invaded Greece in 1941.
The Kingdom of Greece after the Second World War (1942–1967)
After the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, King
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
was once again restored by virtue of the plebiscite of
1946. The implications of the
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...
did not allow the ratification of the liberal
Draft Constitution of 1948. A more conservative
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
was passed in 1952, which imposed restrictions on basic human rights and banned the
Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
The Colonels' Regime (1967–1974)
On 21 April 1967, a coup took place by right-wing officers, which established a dictatorship known as the
Colonels' Regime. An attempted counter-coup by King
Constantine II in December failed, forcing him to leave the country. Thus, legally, there was no government and no Head of State in Athens. Thereby, the Revolutionary Council of
Stylianos Pattakos
Stylianos Pattakos ( el, Στυλιανός Παττακός; 8 November 1912 – 8 October 2016) was a Greek military officer. Pattakos was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that overthrew the government of Pana ...
,
George Papadopoulos
George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maki ...
and
Nikolaos Makarezos
Nikolaos Makarezos ( el, Νικόλαος Μακαρέζος; 1919 – 3 August 2009) was a Greek Army officer and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.
Early life and career
He was born in 1919 in the village of ...
made a brief appearance to cause a Resolution to be published in the Government Gazette, appointing another member to the military administration, Major General
Georgios Zoitakis
Georgios Zoitakis ( el, Γεώργιος Ζωιτάκης; January 1910 – 21 October 1996) was a Hellenic Army General and regent of Greece from 13 December 1967 to 21 March 1972, during the period of the military regime of the Colonels.
Life ...
, as Regent. Zoitakis then appointed Papadopoulos as Prime Minister.
A new constitution was adopted by referendum in 1968. King Constantine was officially retained as head of state, though he would not be allowed to return until the first parliamentary election unless the government recalled him sooner. Many of the guarantees of civil rights were suspended, and elections were postponed until the "Revolution of April 21" (as the coup was called) had reformed the "Greek mentality."
Five years later, during Papadopoulos' attempts at controlled democratization, he abolished the monarchy and declared Greece a republic with himself as president. A plebiscite formally abolished the monarchy on 29 July 1973. A new
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
was drafted, providing for a popularly elected president with wide-ranging powers, effectively establishing a
presidential republic
A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separation ...
. After the hard-liners' coup on 25 November 1973 deposed Papadopoulos, the regime retained the trappings of the Republic, but reverted to exclusively military control until its final collapse in the wake of the
Cyprus crisis in August 1974.
The Third Hellenic Republic
With the return of civilian rule under
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly Anglicisation, anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and List of he ...
, the new government, acting under extraordinary circumstances, issued a "Constituting Act" which voided the 1973 constitution. Pending a referendum on a new constitution, the 1952 constitution was temporarily restored, "except for the articles dealing with the form of the State"; the last phrase referring to whether the monarchy would be restored or not. In the meantime, the functions of the king were to be discharged by the incumbent
President of the Republic General Phaedon Gizikis who was appointed by the Ioannides' short-lived regime as a nominal figurehead.
The matter was settled by
plebiscite
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...
on 8 December 1974, by which the monarchy was definitively abolished. A new
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
, adopted by Parliament and promulgated on 11 June 1975, established a
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
with a president as head of state. In practice, however, most of the power was vested in the prime minister. This constitution was revised in 1985 to codify this practice. It was amended again in 2001, in 2008 and in 2019 and is in force today.
List of Greek Constitutions
In a chronological order, the Greek Constitutions are:
#
Greek Constitution of 1822
#
Greek Constitution of 1823
#
Greek Constitution of 1827
The Greek Constitution of 1827 was signed and ratified in June 1827 by the Third National Assembly at Troezen during the latter stages of the Greek War of Independence and represented the first major step towards realizing a centralised system of G ...
#
Greek Constitution of 1832
Greek may refer to:
Greece
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 ...
#
Greek Constitution of 1844
The first constitution of the Kingdom of Greece was the Greek Constitution of 1844. On 3 September 1843, the military garrison of Athens, with the help of citizens, rebelled and demanded from King Otto the concession of a Constitution.
The ...
#
Greek Constitution of 1864
The Second National Assembly of the Hellenes took place in Athens (1863–1864) and dealt both with the election of a new sovereign as well as with the drafting of a new Constitution, thereby implementing the transition from constitutional monarch ...
#
Greek Constitution of 1911
The Greek Constitution of 1911 was a major step forward in the constitutional history of Greece. Following the rise to power of Eleftherios Venizelos after the Goudi revolt in 1909, Venizelos set about attempting to reform the state. The main ou ...
#
Greek Constitution of 1925
#
Greek Constitution of 1927
#
Draft Constitution of 1948
#
Greek Constitution of 1952
Greek may refer to:
Greece
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 ...
br>
pdf#
Greek Constitution of 1968
#
Greek Constitution of 1973
The Greek Constitution of 1973 ( el, Σύνταγμα του 1973) was an amended version of the Greek Constitution of 1968 (which was never fully enacted) by Greek dictator Georgios Papadopoulos, with the aim of abolishing the Greek monarchy. Papa ...
#
Greek Constitution of 1975/1986/2001/2008/2019
See also
*
History of the Hellenic Republic
Notes
External links
Hellenic Parliament – Constitutional history of GreeceHellenic Parliament – Past constitutions and constitutional charters
{{Greece topics
Constitution of Greece
Political history of Greece
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...