A snap election was called in Greece for October 4 yesterday as the struggling conservative Government decided to seek a new mandate for tough measures to fight the economic downturn.
The New Democracy party of Costas Karamanlis already trails by six points in the polls to Pasok, its socialist rival, but has gambled on this being the least worst time to go to the polls with unemployment rising, ballooning government debt and an undercurrent of social unrest.
With his one-seat majority and growth juddering to a halt the Prime Minister has struggled to make the reforms necessary to cope with the downturn.
His centre-right party was punished in the European elections in June while Pasok was one of the few left-wing parties in the EU to record a decisive victory.
“I’ve failed — vote for me,” screamed the sarcastic front page of Ta Nea, a left-leaning tabloid, yesterday, while Ethnos headlined “Early retirement”, a reference to the two years yet to run of the Government’s mandate.
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Mr Karamanlis said he feared that the Opposition would force an election in March over the choice of a new president and insisted that he wanted to spare the country six months of electioneering at a time when strong government was vital.
“It would be unthinkable to allow a six-month election campaign to paralyse economic life,” Mr Karamanlis said in a televised address. He added that “two difficult years lie ahead” for recovery from recession and there was no room for the pork-barrel promises that would be inevitable in a long election campaign. “The economy cannot wait,” he said.
With a national debt of 103.4 per cent of GDP, the second-highest percentage in the EU behind Italy, the International Monetary Fund and the EU are pushing for structural reforms.
Mr Karamanlis was first elected in 2004 and returned in 2007 but his Government has been dogged by a series of scandals that reduced his parliamentary majority and faced Greece’s worst riots in decades in December when a teenager was killed by a policemen in Athens. It faced more criticism over its response to forest fires near Athens last month.
Opinion polls put Pasok ahead on 31 per cent, against 25 per cent for New Democracy. The socialists have a long way to go before achieving a potential governing majority of at least 42 per cent. There are fears that the election could be inconclusive, triggering a period of political horse-trading that would hinder economic recovery.
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The leader of Pasok, George Papandreou, the son of the long-serving Prime Minister and party founder, Andreas Papandreou, said: “The Government has collapsed under the very dead end that it created.”
The conservative Kathimerini newspaper, a supporter of Mr Karamanlis, admitted in an editorial that it was surprised at his decision to call an early vote. It said: “Greece’s voters expect Mr Karamanlis to explain why he fell short of making the much-needed reforms while he still enjoyed a strong mandate. [They] have every right to be anxious and sceptical.”
Most Greeks agree that Mr Karamanlis is taking a huge risk by calling an election. He is expected to do a bit more explaining during a key economic speech he is scheduled to make in the northern city of Salonika this weekend.