A high court judge is set to become Greece’s first female president after two opposition parties sided with the centre-right government’s nomination.

Katerina Sakellaropoulou, 63, has served as president of the Council of State, a top administrative court, for the past 15 months.

A government spokesman, Stelios Petsas, said Ms Sakellaropoulou was set to receive “well beyond” the 200 votes needed for her election in a vote scheduled in the 300-seat Parliament on Wednesday.

Athens
Greece is set to get its first female president (Nick Potts/PA)

Two centre-left opposition parties have already backed Ms Sakellaropoulou’s nomination, raising the total number of politicians from parties declaring support to 266.

Greece has a historically low level of women in senior positions in politics.

In the current cabinet, all but one of the 18 senior positions are held by men.

Greece New President
Katerina Sakellaropoulou (Dmitris Kapadais/AP)

The president holds a largely ceremonial position and serves a five-year term.

If elected, Ms Sakellaropoulou will succeed President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, a 69-year-old veteran conservative politician and academic.