High court judge Katerina Sakellaropoulou has been elected as Greece’s first female president with an overwhelming majority in a parliamentary vote.

Politicians on Wednesday voted 261-33 to give the 63-year-old Ms Sakellaropoulou a five-year term in the largely ceremonial post.

Greece President
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, front, applaud with other members of the government during a parliamentary session to vote for the new Greek president (Petros Giannakouris/AP)

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

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