Former Speaker of the Greek Parliament Konstantinos Tasoulas became the ninth President of the Hellenic Republic since the fall of the 1967-1974 dictatorship, ERT reported.

After taking the oath of office before the Archbishop of Athens in parliament and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in the square in front of parliament, Tasoulas will make the short trip to the presidential residence where he will take over from Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

Tasoulas, 66, was elected president by a majority of 160 votes in the 300-seat parliament on February 12, backed mainly by members of his party, the ruling centre-right New Democracy.

Greece's new president was born in the north-western city of Ioannina in 1959 and studied law at the University of Athens. He was first elected as a New Democracy deputy in 2000 and again in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2023. In 2007-2009 he was Deputy Minister of Defence, and in 2014-2015 Minister of Culture and Sports, and in 2019 he became Speaker of Parliament, a post he held until he was nominated for the Speakership earlier this year.

He was also mayor of the northern Athens suburb of Kythissia from 1995 to 1998.

The swearing-in ceremony was not without drama, as two parties - Freedom Course and Hellenic Solution - decided to abstain from taking part in the proceedings in protest at the nomination of Tasoulas by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. | BGNES