However, after the fall of the military regime, the new government, under Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, decided to hold another one, as junta constituent acts were considered void.

[citation needed] Political parties abstained from taking part in the referendum campaign, with the television debates confined to ordinary citizens representing one side or the other (although most members of some parties and alliances had sympathies for one side or the other, with members of the National Democratic Union in favour of restoring the monarchy and the United Left, Centre Union – New Forces, and PASOK in favour of the republic).

"[5] On 15 December 1974, the incumbent President General Phaedon Gizikis (appointed by Ioannides in November 1973) submitted his resignation, and Karamanlis thanked him with a personal visit and by writing for his services to the country.

On 18 December 1974, Michail Stasinopoulos, a state list MP for New Democracy, was elected and sworn in as provisional President of Greece, as the Parliament was to compose a new Constitution.

[citation needed] In February 1988, Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis stated in an interview given in London that although he was a republican, the manner in which the referendum was carried out had been "unfair".