Greek prime minister George Papandreou’s socialist ruling party Pasok scored second-round wins in local elections, including a historic victory in Athens, but now faces talks with the International Monetary Fund and European Union about the 110 billion euro bailout. November 14 2010 saw the second round of local and regional elections, held on schedule but in the framework of redrawn boundaries, with the ruling party ahead in six of 11 regions.
The opposition centre-right New Democracy, which had hoped for an election humiliation of Papandreou’s party after Pasok defeated New Democracy in 2009 parliamentary elections, suffered a notable reverse in losing Athens to independent candidate Giorgos Kaminis.
As with the first round on November 7, voter turnout was strikingly low, at about 46 per cent.
Papandreou described the local and regional election results as a vote for political and social stability and said that voters had "rejected the sirens of destabilisation".
He called on all parties to "assume responsibility" as Greece tries to overcome its economic problems. He pledged the government would adopt "major reforms that will help Greece breathe" following this year’s austerity measures, daily Kathimerini reported.
"We have ahead of us a clear three-year period... to save and change Greece once and for all," Papandreou said. "We will put all our weight behind the major changes which will allow Greece to breathe, to stand up on its feet." IMF and EU officials were due in the Greek capital Athens on November 15 for talks on implementing a 110 billion euro rescue loan, the BBC said. New figures also due on November 15 were expected to show Greece's budget deficit for last year was worse than previously declared, according to the BBC.
News source: The Sofia Echo link: article
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