The Government in Greece

Greece has a presidential parliamentary system and is governed under the constitution of 1975. There is a 300-member unicameral parliament, which elects a president for a five-year term. The executive branch also includes a premier and a cabinet.

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The 1975 constitution, 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 government 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.

Costas Karamanlis of the conservative New Democracy Party has been the Prime Minister since early March 2004. The President is Karolos Papoulias.