Greece elects Katerina Sakellaropoulou as first woman president

The head of Greece’s top administrative court, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, was elected the new head of state following a historic parliamentary vote.

A cross-party majority of Greek lawmakers endorsed Katerina Sakellaropoulou as the successor of the current president.

Prokopis Pavlopoulos’s term to expire in March.

The 63-year-old Sakellaropoulou will become the first woman in the history of Greece to hold the top office.

“Katerina Sakellaropoulou, elected president of the republic,” parliament chief Costas Tassoulas said.

“This a very important day for the Greek republic,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who nominated her for the post.

“Parliament has elected a remarkable jurist, a consensus figure who symbolizes the transition to a new era.”

The new EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed. Tweeting her congratulations to Sakellaropoulou.

She added: “Greece is moving ahead into a new era of equality.”

Sakellaropoulou herself set out her priorities to assembled journalists shortly after the vote.

The new president, until now the head of Greece’s administrative court, the Council of State, will swore in on March 13, taking over from Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

The daughter of a Supreme Court judge, Sakellaropoulou completed postgraduate studies at Paris’s Sorbonne University.

She was the first woman to lead the Council of State, the country’s top administrative court.

As a jurist, she has particular expertise in environmental and constitutional law.

Greek presidents confirm governments and laws and technically have the power to declare war, but only in conjunction with the government.