The summers are hot and dry.
Winters are mild and wet, although the mountains experience heavy snowfalls.
Seven years of dictatorship followed until, in 1974, a civilian government was restored. The Mitsotakis government was forced to hold a general election in October 1993, after losing a working majority in parliament. In the election Andreas Papandreou, who had been ousted from office in 1989 following a series of scandals, returned to office after the Pasok party won a larger than expected majority. In 1994 Papandreou ensured the survival of the government for its full four-year term by reaching agreement with a splinter group, Political Spring, on the election of Costis Stephanopoulos as president. It appears ready to lift the blockade, may not press its objection over the name Macedonia, and may start a dialogue with the republic.