Socialists claim win in Greek elections..

The Conservative govt. called an election even as they were slumping in the polls and half way through their term. Perhaps they want the Socialists to inherit the mess and wait for them to lose support in turn. The Socialists are calling for a stimulus package to help the economy that is in the doldrums whereas the Conservatives campaigned on an austerity program! The turnaround in voting for the left is so great that the Socialists will be able to govern themselves as they will have a clear majority. The Conservative govt. was plagued by scandals and corruption charges as well as mishandling the economy. Other minor parties managed to hold on to their support.

""""Socialists claim victory in Greek election
By ELENA BECATOROS (AP) -

ATHENS, Greece - Greek voters angered by repeated scandals and a faltering economy ousted Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in an early election Sunday, returning the Socialists to power after five years of conservative governance, initial results indicated.

Final projections issued by the company carrying out the vote counting indicated that former foreign minister George Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, would win with a landslide, gaining 43.8 percent of the vote with Karamanlis' New Democracy trailing with 33.9 percent.

In the last elections in 2007, the conservatives won with 41.8 percent compared to the Socialists' 38.1 percent, and had a marginal majority of 152 seats in parliament, later reduced to 151.

......Karamanlis stormed to power in 2004 to become the youngest prime minister in modern Greek history after more than a decade of socialist rule. He was re-elected in 2007, but quickly saw his popularity eroded by a series of major financial scandals, including a land-swap deal with a Greek Orthodox monastery that cost the state more than euro100 million ($145 million) and forced two of Karamanlis' close aides to resign.

.....Now, it will be the 57-year-old Papandreou who will have to deal with his country's faltering economy, which is expected to contract in 2009 after years of strong growth, while the budget deficit will probably exceed 6 percent of economic output.

The Greek Communist Party, far right-wing LAOS and the small Left Coalition are expected to retain their representation in Parliament, while the Ecologist-Greens were hovering on the fringe of the 3 percent threshold for entry.

.....Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.