Greeks go to the polls
Polls opened at dawn today as Greeks began voting in snap general elections that will determine the fate of governing conservatives who have been hurt by deadly wildfires and a challenge from the far right.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’ centre-right New Democracy party is seeking a second four-year term. His party had a slim opinion poll lead over opposition Socialists when a two-week ban on voting surveys took effect on September 1.
But the polls also suggest conservatives could struggle to win an overall majority in parliament, under a new electoral law that introduces greater proportional representation.
Karamanlis, 51, faces the 55-year-old Socialist leader George Papandreou – both descendants of powerful political families that have dominated Greek politics for a half-century.
He called the snap election six months before his term expired, seeking a renewed mandate to speed up potentially unpopular financial reforms.
Campaigning, however, was halted during massive wildfires in southern and eastern Greece that killed at least 65 people and left the government facing public anger over what some felt was a slow response to the crisis.
In the last two weeks, conservatives and socialists mounted frantic campaigns with large public election rallies in a bid to stop support slipping to smaller parties.
The far-right Popular Orthodox Rally party, or LAOS, is set to enter parliament for the first time, on a platform that includes immigration quotas and opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
Parties must receive at least 3% of the vote to be represented in parliament.
“If LAOS does not get elected to parliament, then the winning party will have an easier task of reaching an overall majority,” said Ilias Nikolakopoulos, election analyst at private Mega television.
“But if any party secures 42% of the vote it should be able to form a government regardless of how its opponents perform.”
Karamanlis described LAOS as politically “extreme” and ruled out seeking a coalition with any opposition party if he fails to win a majority in Greece’s 300-seat parliament – adding he would prefer to hold new elections.
Some 9.8 million Greeks are eligible to vote today, out of an estimated population of 11.2 million, casting ballots at 20,509 polling stations in 56 electoral districts.
New Democracy has been credited with overcoming serious delays before the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and steadying the economy to reduce double-digit unemployment to 7.7 percent and the budget deficit from 7.8% of gross domestic product in 2004 to a projected 2.4% in 2007.
Karamanlis failed to honour pledges to increase funding for education, build cross-party consensus to revise the constitution, and deal with debt-plagued state enterprises including national carrier Olympic Airways.
The conservatives were also embroiled in a bond trading scandal involving state pension funds, and a cell phone surveillance scandal that involved illegal monitoring of senior government officials including Karamanlis himself. The perpetrators have not been identified.
If re-elected, Karamanlis has promised to continue privatisation and cut back labour protection rules that would lead to fewer permanent jobs in Greece’s large civil servant work force.
Papandreou’s Socialists – broadly backed by labour unions – say the reforms will force tens of thousands of Greeks to work in insecure jobs, and have promoted alternatives they say will include greater job guarantees and a revised income tax system.
Since democracy was restored to Greece in 1974, following a seven-year dictatorship and decades of political unrest, the Socialists have governed for 19 years and the conservatives for 14. The constitution has been revised twice and the electoral law amended eight times.
