Athens, Greece – Greece’s conservative prime minister won re-election Sunday with a diminished majority in parliament after a financial scandal and devastating forest fires that killed more than 65 people last month.
The slimmer majority could make it harder for the government to carry out crucial economic and educational plans, including overhauling the fractured and debt-ridden pension system.
“Thank you for your trust. You have spoken loud and clear and chosen the course the country will take in the next few years,” Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said as thousands of party supporters filled the streets of Athens, waving the blue flags of his New Democracy party.
George Papandreou, leader of the main opposition socialist party PASOK, conceded defeat.
The results indicated New Democracy would win enough seats in the 300-member parliament to form a governing majority after the elections, called by Karamanlis six months early. With 94 percent of the votes counted, the New Democracy party was ahead with 42.2 percent, while PASOK had 38.2 percent.
Both parties appeared to have lost support after the fires and a scandal in which state pension funds bought bonds at inflated prices.
Karamanlis, 51, easily won the last election in 2004. The country’s economy has done well under the conservatives.
