Greece's current political structure is recognized as a presidential parliamentary republic where the prime minister is recognized as the head of the government by the people. Greece's current prime minister is Alexis Tsipras, who was elected by the people of Greece during the general election on January 25, 2015. He is the head of government and Greece's leading political figure. He has served as the Prime Minister from 2015 to the present day. Their current president is Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who is the head of state elected by the parliament. While he does not hold a role in the executive or legislative branches of government, he serves as a symbol to the people and a monarch as well. Greece used to be a constitutional monarchy ruling until 1973, when the military junta finally took over and became absolute monarchs until they were then overthrown in 1975. They have been a parliamentary republic since 1975 which has worked well for them, but they are still very in debt and need to find away to repay everyone that has loaned them money. Greece's political structure is known to be very dynastic, but some members of parliament are not related. Parliament votes on a new president when the previous presidents term expires (5 years). The president can declare war and create allies with parliaments approval. He can not disobey any of parliaments commands. One advantage of having this type of government is that the president has to have parliaments approval before carrying out any of his plans. This prevents inferior decisions from affecting the people of Greece. A disadvantage of this type of government is that not every family member in a dynastic cycle is fit to be a leader. This could lead Greece to having a horrible leader, but hopefully the parliament can stop this from happening.
President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (ekathimerini)
Voting results from January and September 2015 (BBC)
People of Greece Advertising Voting Right (Aljazira)
"I think time is against us. I am terrified at the idea of the problems facing the country."
--by Karolos Papulias former Greek president
"The future welfare of Greece and its citizens lies more than ever on the shoulders of the Greek politicians to keep their part of the solidarity pact."
--by Olli Rehn, EU Economy commissioner
"A political accident in the Euro area could trigger a financial crisis engulfing the region."