Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Greek PM calls snap election, takes risky gamble
Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:12am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis launched a difficult election campaign on Thursday after calling an early parliamentary vote for October 4 to seek a new mandate and deal with a sharp economic crisis.
The Greek bourse's benchmark stock index was down nearly 4 percent in early afternoon trading, one of the biggest losses in Europe, in what analysts said was fear of political uncertainty and concern that no party would win outright.
Elections were not due before 2011 but the opposition Socialists would have forced an early vote in March, pushing Karamanlis to take a risky gamble and pick a date although his conservative New Democracy party lags behind PASOK in polls.
"My act is an act of responsibility, I didn't have the right to let the country be dragged for months in a pre-election atmosphere," Karamanlis said in a televised speech.
He asked President Karolos Papoulias to dissolve parliament as of Monday and declare elections for Oct 4.
Fading support for the government, dragged down by discontent with a sharp economic slowdown, scandals and Greece's worst riots in decades, was hit even more from criticism of its response to forest fires near Athens last month.
"I failed, but vote for me again!," left-leaning daily Ta Nea said in its front page headline.
Attacks such as a car bomb which exploded outside the Athens stock exchange on Wednesday, which police suspect was staged by a leftist or anarchist group, have further hurt the government.
"I'm disappointed because they didn't do most of what they had promised, I voted for New Democracy in 2004," said Iakovos Diamantopoulos, 58, a teacher. "The scandals, their economic policy, the rises in prices ... they disappointed us."
RISKY BET
Seen by investors as the euro zone's weakest link, Greece's economy faces this year its first recession since 1993 while its national debt is ballooning.
"The stock market is falling because the investors are afraid of the possibility that the winning party would not have an absolute majority," said Takis Zamanis, head dealer at Beta Securities.
PASOK may not gather enough votes in this election to form a government alone. This would plunge Greece into political uncertainty as it struggles to cope with the global slowdown, which hits hard key drivers of the economy including tourism.
Greece's economy returned to weak growth in the second quarter but suffered its first annual contraction in 16 years with year-on-year GDP shrinking 0.3 percent, provisional figures by the country's statistics service (NSS) showed on Thursday.
"The next government must have quite a substantial majority because the economic problems will not go away," said Grace Amerley Annan, at IHS Global Insight, saying New Democracy had lost credibility by not pushing reforms through, hampered by strikes and a one-seat majority in parliament. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Catholic editor who criticized Berlusconi resigns
Also On Reuters
Blog: Ben Stein and the upper-middle-class parent
"No Impact Man" charts U.S. couple's climate fight
Commentary: Fresh thinking on the war on drugs?
More International News
Indonesia quake toll at 57, many homes damaged
| Video
Protesters demand Xinjiang leader step down
Hitmen kill 17 in Mexico clinic on U.S. border
Japan's Hatoyama, U.S. envoy talk shared interests
Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns
More International News...
Video
Greek PM calls snap election
Play Video
More Video...
More News
UPDATE 2-Greek PM calls snap election, takes risky gamble
8:14am EDT
Featured Broker sponsored link
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Japan's new first lady says rode UFO to Venus
Pfizer whistleblower's ordeal reaps big rewards
Dying Manson follower Atkins denied parole
Advert criticized over "young" partial nude model
Global recession ending: OECD
Internet providers seek low broadband bar
NASA tracks space junk headed toward space station
Hitmen kill 17 in Mexico clinic on U.S. border
NASA tracks space junk headed toward space station
Single swine flu vaccine dose may be enough
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Venice film festival opens
A healthy dose of humidity
Hurricane Jimena slaps Mexico
U.S. takes aim at childhood obesity
World powers press Iran on talks
Melting men show global warming
Volcano stirs, may blow soon
Venice festival begins
Family prepares for Jackson funeral
Europe dims old-style lightbulbs
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.