Polls opened at daybreak yesterday across the nation 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.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' center-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 Sept. 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 EU.
Parties must receive at least 3 percent 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 percent 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 were eligible to vote yesterday, 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 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 percent of GDP in 2004 to a projected 2.4 percent this year.
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