The Constitution of 1975 was significantly different from today’s version, as it has undergone four revisions since then. It was passed exclusively by the overwhelming parliamentary majority of the New Democracy (ND) party, which held 220 seats following the November 1974 elections, without the participation of the opposition. The constitution envisaged a President of the Republic who was a true “regulator of the regime,” with the right to dissolve Parliament if he determined that there was a discord between the parliamentary majority and the popular sentiment.

Additionally, it introduced a method of electing the President of the Republic that remained in effect until the 2019 revision, which allowed the opposition to force the country into elections if 180 parliamentary votes were not secured to elect the president.

Did Karamanlis tailor that Constitution to fit his own needs, having already decided on his next step, which he took in 1980 when he handed over the premiership to Georgios Rallis and moved to the Presidential Mansion? Yes, to a large extent, answers Panos Loukakos, who was among Karamanlis’s close interlocutors. However, it’s also interesting to consider what Konstantinos Karamanlis himself believed in this regard.