GREECE: Greek voters have given a decisive victory to the conservative opposition in a general election regarded as one of the most significant since the collapse of military rule 30 years ago.
Early results from exit polls showed that the New Democracy party leading by more than five points, 47.5 per cent against the Socialist party PASOK's 42 per cent.
The Socialists were quick to concede defeat well before all votes were counted. "New Democracy has won the elections," said their leader, Mr George Papandreou. "I wish Karamanlis success in his work for the good of Greece."
The conservatives were last in power for a three-year spell more than 10 years ago.
Under Greece's complex electoral laws the lead indicated last night would give New Democracy a clear majority of the 300 parliamentary seats, enabling it to take a tough stance on Athens's problem-plagued preparations for the Olympic games and the thorny negotiations to re-unite Cyprus.
Earlier in the day the party's leader, Mr Costas Karamanlis, cast his vote in the northern capital, Salonika, saying: "This is the day of the voters and we have absolute confidence in their judgment."
Forecasters had predicted that the election would be a dead-heat. About 80,000 Greeks living overseas were reported yesterday to have flown in on charted flights.
Since the election was called two months ago the New Democrats have consistently led in the opinion polls.
But their lead was believed to have ebbed dramatically when the popular former foreign minister Mr George Papandreou took over the leadership of Pasok shortly before the election. First elected in 1981, Pasok has been in power for all but three of the last 23 years.
Mr Papandreou, the US-born son of the party's charismatic founder, urged Greeks to elect his party for an unprecedented, fourth consecutive term.
Greeks have traditionally voted for the left since the fall of the 1967-74 Colonels' junta. Pasok was founded in 1974 from a resistance movement organised during the Colonels' reign. But its many years in power have inevitably lead to accusations of corruption and political arrogance.
Despite his own popularity, and his promises of a root-and-branch clean-up of Pasok which would would include side-lining the "barons" who have dominated successive governments, Mr Papandreou has faced a considerable reluctance to give his party another term.
Many younger Greeks told the pollsters that they would be voting New Democracy, if only to see new faces in office.
"They \ were in power for so long they had become a regime," said Tassos Gallos, a 23-year-old Athenian, after casting his vote.
The Socialists have also fallen foul of years of economic under-achievement. Rising prices, falling living standards and 10 per cent unemployment are the voters' main complaints.
Mr Karamanlis has promised to introduce a lean and effective government. Olympic preparations will pose the conservatives' biggest task to grapple if the games are to be a success.
Almost half the Olympic-related projects, including the construction of a giant glass-and-steel dome over the main stadium, are behind schedule.
But powerful socialist-dominated unions have already made it clear that they will press ahead with strike action and other forms of disruptive unrest if the conservatives win.
The new prime minister will have to get to grips with Greece's economy. And he will have to weigh in on the Cyprus negotiations, where the deadline for re-uniting the Greek and Turkish communities before the island joins the EU in May is looming. Unless there is a deal the Turkish part of the island will remain outside the EU. - (Guardian)