Should one use the definite article before a job title followed by a name?

A banner one might spot in Minsk, Belarus these days reads,

Warm greetings to President of the Republic of India Pranab Mukherjee

My question is more specific than this one and this one. Neither has "President of <country>" and a name following a job title in a single sentence.

Is it necessary to put the definite article between "to" and "President"?

Solution 1:

The basic question is whether you are saying "Greetings to [honorific][human's name]" or "Greetings to [official title], [human's name]".

You would say "Greetings to the President of the Republic of India", but "Greetings to Pranab Mukherjee".

Combine them one way and you get "Greetings to the President of the Republic of India, Pranab Mukherjee". Combine them the other way and you get "Greetings to President of the Republic of India Pranab Mukherjee", where "President of the Republic of India" is an honorific (just like "Mr." or "General" or whatever).

The banner is correct as it appears, so long as it contains no comma. It might read a hair better the other way (with comma), but protocol may dictate against that.