 A practising lawyer, Dendias has been active in New Democracy since 1978, first as a member of ND's student wing, DAP-NDFK and later as a party functionary in the Youth Organisation of New Democracy.He was elected as an MP for Corfu in the Greek parliament in the 2004, 2007, 2009 and June 2012 elections.On 8 January 2009, Dendias was named as Minister for Justice in the second cabinet of Kostas Karamanlis, serving briefly until the cabinet's resignation on 7 October 2009, following ND's defeat in the elections of 4 October.