 Protopadakis was elected to the Hellenic Parliament in 1902 as a member of the conservative Nationalist Party.He later joined the People's Party and served as Minister of Economy and later, in the government of Dimitrios Gounaris, he was the Justice Minister (1921–22).In 1922, during the ill-fated Greco-Turkish War, Protopapadakis was asked to form a government by King Constantine when Gounaris resigned after almost losing a vote of confidence.