Alexandros became involved in politics after the death of his father who was the elected member of parliament for Kalavryta. He became a
Member of Parliament in 1885. He served as Minister of the Interior and Justice Minister in
Theodoros Deligiannis' government (1890–1892) and
Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament (1895-1897). He became prime minister for the first time in 1897.
Appointment as High Commissioner In 1906, he was appointed as
High Commissioner of
Crete and presided over a critical period of the island's history up to the
de facto union of Crete with Greece in 1908.
Re-election as Prime Minister Alexandros Zaimis was re-elected as prime minister a further five times. He was appointed prime minister under King
Constantine I to succeed Venizelos in October 1915, but resigned a month later when his government failed to receive a vote of confidence. In 1917, Zaimis served again as prime minister under King Constantine I, while
Eleftherios Venizelos led a rival government controlling northern Greece. Under
Entente pressure, he resigned in favor of Venizelos in June of the same year. During
World War I, he was generally supposed to favour neutrality for Greece, but to be personally in favor of the Allies. A moderate conservative, he served again as prime minister in the
Second Hellenic Republic, from 1926 to 1928, in a coalition government of
Venizelist and moderate
conservatives. Zaimis was elected the
third and last President of the Second Hellenic Republic in 1929. He was reelected in 1934. However, only one year into his second term, he was thrown out of office by
Georgios Kondylis, who abolished the Republic and proclaimed himself regent pending the results of a
referendum on restoring the monarchy. This referendum resulted in
George II being recalled to the throne by almost 98% of the vote, a high total that was obtained because no-monarchist supported the abstension to vote for protest (there was no secrecy of vote). == Death and legacy ==