Greece elects country's first female president

Athens — Greece's lawmakers elected their country's first female president Wednesday, with an overwhelming majority voting to give high court judge Katerina Sakellaropoulou the largely ceremonial post.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis nominated Sakellaropoulou as a non-partisan candidate who would enjoy broad support from across the political spectrum.

All major parties voted in favour of the nomination, with Sakellaropoulou being elected on a 261-33 vote, well above the 200 votes required. Six lawmakers were absent.

Sakellaropoulou, who has headed the Council of State since 2018, is to begin her five-year term in March, when the term of the current president, veteran conservative politician Prokopis Pavlopoulos, expires.

Greece has a historically low level of women in senior positions in politics, and Mitsotakis had been criticised for selecting a nearly all-male cabinet after he won general elections in July 2019. In the current Greek cabinet, all but one of the 18 senior positions are held by men.