The Metapolitefsi (Greek: Μεταπολίτευση, translated as polity or regime change) was a period in Greek history after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that includes the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship to the Greek legislative elections of 1974 and the democratic period immediately after these elections.
The long course towards the metapolitefsi began with the disputed liberalisation plan of Georgios Papadopoulos, the head of the military dictatorship. This process was opposed by prominent politicians, such as Panagiotis Kanellopoulos and Stephanos Stephanopoulos. Papadopoulos' plan was halted with the Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta, and the counter coup staged by Dimitrios Ioannides.
Ioannides' failed coup d'état against the elected president of Cyprus, Makarios III, and the subsequent Turkish invasion resulted in the fall of the dictatorship and the appointment of an interim government, known as the "national unity government", led by former prime minister, Konstantinos Karamanlis. Karamanlis legalized the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and formed a new party named New Democracy, which won the elections of 1974.
Read more about Metapolitefsi: The New Junta: Enter Ioannides, The Post Invasion Paralysis and The Metapolitefsi Paradox, Deus Ex Machina, First Years After Transition