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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-10-04
CONTENTS
[01] First exit polls give PASOK lead
[01] First exit polls give PASOK lead
George Papandreou's main opposition PASOK party appears to have
garnered a large enough percentage of the vote on Sunday to form a
self-sufficient government in Greece, according to the first unified
exit poll carried out for a Greek general election and announced
shortly after 7 p.m. (17.00 GMT).
Papandreou, a former foreign minister, and his PASOK party apparently
scored a landslide victory over Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and
the ruling New Democracy party, thus ending the latter's
five-and-a-half-year rule.
Specifically, the unified exit poll, aired by most Athens television
stations, gave PASOK between 41 to 44 percent of the vote to ND's 34.3
to 37.3 percent, with PASOK eying 151 to 159 projected MPs in
Parliament, narrowly over the 150-limit (out of a 300-deputy
legislature) needed to form a self-sufficient government.
In terms of smaller parties, the Communist Party of Greece's (KKE)
estimated tally was 7.3 to 8.3 percent; 3.9 to 4.9 percent for the
Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) parliamentary alliance; 5 to 6 percent
for the Popular Orthodox Rally (LA.OS) and 2 to 3 percent for the newly
formed Ecologists-Greens party, which appears -- based on initial exit
polls -- not to have reached the 3-percent ceiling needed to enter
Parliament.
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