Greeks vote under shadow of recession

GREECE: Greeks began voting Sunday in a snap election in which the opposition socialists were tipped to ride into power on a wave of anxiety over the country’s looming economic crisis.

Led by former foreign minister George Papandreou, son of late prime minister Andreas Papandreou, the socialist PASOK party held a lead of 5-7 points over the ruling conservatives in the final opinion polls published two weeks ago.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis called the snap election halfway through his four-year term with his New Democracy party, stung and distracted by corruption scandals, finding it increasing difficult to govern as the country faces a dire economic crisis.

Buoyed for years by growth rates around four percent partly attributed to EU funds, Greece is now on the brink of recession with output growth at near zero.

Greece’s public debt, one of the highest in the eurozone, is set to exceed 100 percent of GDP this year, and the European Union placed the country under supervision in April over its excessive budget deficit.

Although Greece’s service-oriented economy avoided the worst effects of the global financial crisis for months, the expected loss of some three billion euros from the tourism and shipping industries that constitute the economy’s main income sources will be a heavy blow.

Athens, Sunday, AFP