The president's role was formally brought into line with practice by the 1986 constitutional amendment, which reduced the official powers.

The most recent person to have served as Acting President was Ioannis Alevras, following the resignation of Constantine Karamanlis due to the constitutional crisis in 1985.

On 1 June 1973 the then leader of the military junta and regent for the exiled King Constantine II, Georgios Papadopoulos, abolished the Greek monarchy and proclaimed himself President of the Republic.

After the fall of the junta and the return to civilian rule under Konstantinos Karamanlis in August 1974, the constitutional acts of the military regime were deemed invalid, and a new referendum was held on 8 December 1974, which confirmed the abolition of the monarchy.

A new constitution, promulgated on 11 June 1975, declared Greece a presidential parliamentary democracy (or republic – the Greek δημοκρατία can be translated both ways).