Greece's socialist government has started an electoral post-mortem, calling a series of meetings this week to discuss its poor showing in the second round of local elections at the weekend.
Opposition candidates have been elected mayor in all three major cities - Athens, Thessaloniki and Piraeus - and won in more than half of the 54 administrative prefectures, including the key AthensPiraeus conurbation.
The heavy vote against the government reflects dissatisfaction with the way Greece is approaching EMU, according to analysts. The political secretariate of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) meets today, its parliamentary group meets tomorrow, and the Cabinet is to meet on Friday.
The race for Mayor of Athens was decided last week when the conservative-backed mayor, Mr Dimitris Avramopoulos, won a record 58 per cent of the votes. In Sunday's second round, the conservative opposition New Democracy took both the port city of Piraeus and the northern city of Thessaloniki. New Democracy also took Patras, the main city of the Peloponnese and a Pasok stronghold for 37 years.
The traditionally left-wing town of Larissa also elected a right-wing mayor, while Ioannina in the north-west fell after 20 years under Pasok control.
Pasok won the race for prefect - or district governor - in Thessaloniki but lost the heavily populated Athens-Piraeus prefecture, as well as the northern Xanthi-KavallaDrama region.
Analysts said voters had issued a strong protest vote against the government's harsh economic measures. But the government was quick to pledge it would keep Greece on course for qualifying for EMU by 2001.
"We will do our utmost to respond to the Greek people's expectations," the Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, said.
Mr Simitis, now mid-way through his four-year term, has applied harsh policies on incomes and taxes, and clashed with trade unions over privatisation and restructuring the public sector.