After the restoration of democracy in 1974 during metapolitefsi, Averoff participated in the New Democracy centre-right party under Konstantinos Karamanlis and served as Minister of National Defense in subsequent governments. In 1981 he was elected President of the New Democracy party, which was then the Major Opposition in Parliament, but had to leave his post due to health problems in 1984. In 1984 he was declared the party’s Honorary President. Parallel to his political career he became a prominent author of novels, short stories, theatrical plays, essays and historical analyses.