Konstantinos Karamanlis

Karamanlis returned from exile in July 1974 to lead a national-unity government after the Greek junta collapsed amid the Cyprus crisis. His administration legalised the Communist Party and organised parliamentary elections and a referendum on the monarchy. These were concrete steps towards a civilian constitutional order, not simply a change of prime minister. The transition also depended on popular opposition to dictatorship and the military regime's loss of authority; the continuing Cyprus crisis made the handover especially precarious.