Prime Minister Karamanlis Wins Re-Election in Greece
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Prime Minister Karamanlis of Greece won a second four-year term, claiming a mandate to cut taxes and overhaul the pension system even as his majority in Parliament shrank.
“The people spoke loud and clear,” Mr. Karamanlis, 51, told supporters early today in Athens. Mr. Karamanlis’s New Democracy party had 43.3% of yesterday’s vote, giving it 156 seats in the 300-member Parliament, the Interior Ministry said on its Web site, with 67% of ballots counted. That’s down from 164 seats.
The decision by Mr. Karamanlis to call elections six months before the end of his term almost backfired following public anger over deadly wildfires last month. Exit polls initially suggested he could lose control of the legislature.
Socialist George Papandreou, who was defeated by Mr. Karamanlis in 2004, also lost ground as the Communist Party gained seats and the nationalist slate was set to enter Parliament for the first time.
“This majority is sufficient to proceed with reforms,” Chris Pryce, a director at Fitch Ratings in London said in an interview. “New Democracy doesn’t have a choice to delay them, particularly pension reform.”
