Athens, Sep 17 (DPA) When devastating forest fires struck Greece last month, thousands of angry citizens took to the streets nationwide to protest the government’s slow response to the disaster.
On Sunday, Greeks appeared to have forgiven the conservative government by voting them in for a second four-year term, giving the green light to move ahead with key economic, pension and educational reforms.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, 52-year-old nephew of the late statesman Constantine Karamanlis, claimed victory after his main rival, opposition socialist PASOK party leader Giorgos Papandreou, 55, conceded defeat.
“You gave us a clear mandate to continue with the reforms the country needs,” Karamanlis said. “I feel doubly responsible to be more effective and avoid mistakes.”
Despite their win, the conservatives appeared to have lost some support after some less forgiving voters opted to sway toward many of the smaller parties, following financial scandals and the devastating wildfires in which 65 people died and thousands of acres of forest and agricultural land were destroyed.
In its 2004 landslide victory, which ended 11 years of socialist rule, New Democracy won 45.36 percent of the vote and 165 seats in the house. Now, with most of the results counted, New Democracy was winning about 43 percent of the vote and 156 seats in the 300-member parliament.
Fewer seats would make it harder for the next government to carry out austere economic and education reforms, which analysts say are necessary to move the country forward.
Initial results also showed the Greek public turning away from the main opposition socialists, with about 38 percent of the vote and 103 seats in parliament, compared with 117 seats in 2004.
“We heard the protests arising from the fires and the scandals, but the results from the voting also showed us a bigger picture. They told us that we are also responsible for what has happened to the country,” Papandreou told journalists.
Analysts say the big winners in this election are the smaller parties.
The far-right LAOS party was seen winning 3.39 percent of the vote – just above the required three percent threshold – and with an estimated nine seats would enter parliament for the first time.
The communist party (KKE) won 7.32 percent (19 seats), up from 5.9 percent in 2004, and the left-coalition 4.37 percent (12 seats), up from 3.3 percent.
The elections were seen as critical for implementing reforms needed in Eurozone’s second poorest economy, including overhaul of the pension system, which risks going bankrupt within 20 years, and completing state privatisations.
Greece’s per capita gross domestic product is the second lowest in Eurozone after Portugal, and nearly 20 percent of its population lives below the poverty line.
Karamanlis has been applauded by the European Union for cutting deficits and creating thousands of jobs, but the unemployment rate still hovers above the EU average.
Confident that he could secure an easy victory, Karamanlis called for snap elections in August but barely a week later found himself facing harsh criticism over the government’s slow and confused response to the recent forest fires.
The socialists, accused of their own scandals over their 20-year ruling history, did not seem to take advantage in their own election campaign of the government’s woes.