Constantinos (Costis) Stephanopoulos

President of the Republic of Greece

(Athens News Agency)

Constantinos Stephanopoulos was first elected president of the Republic of Greece in 1995, and was re-elected on 8 February 2000.

He was born in Patras in 1926.

Stephanopoulos is an attorney. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Athens, with which he has been associated much of his professional career.

In 1964, Stephanopoulos was elected member of the Greek parliament with the National Radical Union. Ten years later, he joined the New Democracy (ND) party and was elected to its central committee. He was also assigned the function of party spokesman. In 1985, Stephanopoulos left the ND and became one of the co-founders of the Democratic Renewal (DHANA) party. In 1994, he disbanded DHANA and decided to leave politics following the party's failure to gain representation in the European Parliament.

In March 1995, Stephanopoulos was elected to his first presidential term. He was nominated for the post by the Political Spring party (Politiki Anixi), and was supported by the ruling PASOK (Panhellenic Socialist Movement). In February 2000, the Greek parliament re-elected him. His nomination was supported by the two main political parties in Greece.

During his career, Stephanopoulos has served as Minister for Commerce (1974), Minister for the Interior (1974-1976), Minister for Social Services (1976-1977) and Minister for the Presidency (1977-1981).