Greek PM faces tough fight for 3rd mandate

Whoever wins, Greece will have the heir to a long-running political dynasty at its helm once more. Costas Karamanlis and socialist PASOK party leader George Papandreou are both scions of the two rival families that have governed Greece for 32 of the 47 years of democratic governance since 1955, excluding the 1967-74 dictatorship.

Karamanlis called an election just halfway through his second four-year term in a risky bid to shore up support for tough economic measures, saying he needed renewed public support to push through unpopular reforms that are essential for the country's economy in a time of financial crisis.

But the popularity of the 53-year-old nephew of late conservative Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis has been severely eroded by a series of financial scandals and exacerbated by a worsening economy as his New Democracy party struggled with a single-seat majority in the 300-member Parliament.

"It was a toxic combination that has taken place over the last 12, 14 months," said political analyst Anthony Livanios. "It was the economic crisis, number one; it was the slim majority in the parliament, number two; and number three, the scandals that have created a negative impact of his government, of the Karamanlis government to the public opinion."

Arguably the most damaging of the scandals was a state land-swap deal with a powerful Greek Orthodox monastery, in which investigators found high-value state property was traded for cheaper monastery land at a cost to the state of about €100 million. The scandal forced the resignation of two ministers, including one of Karamanlis' closest aides.

The government also came under criticism for its handling of severe riots last December sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager and, more recently, a major wildfire that burned the outskirts of the capital this summer.

The last opinion polls published on Sept. 18 before a pre-election ban went into effect showed the Papandreou's opposition PASOK party ahead with a 6-7 point lead. Papandreou, 57, is a former foreign minister whose father and grandfather were both prime ministers.

Karamanlis' decision to call snap elections "was a very high-risk move," Livanios said. "But he thought that he had to do that because he wants a strong mandate in order to (implement) an austere economic policy."

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