PM Simitis Announces Elections on March 7, New Leader for PASOK

ATHENS
Prime Minister Costas Simitis officially resigned as president of ruling PASOK before the party’s Central Committee on Thursday and initiated procedures to elect a new leader for the party. In his address to gathered Central Committee members, he called on them to agree to an emergency PASOK conference on February 6 and proposed that the new leader be elected by the entire PASOK membership in a vote to be held on February 8, two days after the conference. Simitis also proposed that the conference make decisions regarding PASOK’s pre-election program.

He reiterated that the new president of the party will lead PASOK’s government after the elections and that his decision to step down was prompted by clear goals, namely that PASOK would be able to contend in the upcoming elections on ”terms of victory” rather than the ‘deceptive characteristics’ that the main opposition was seeking to impose, with clear risk that it would succeed.

Simitis also underlined that his decisions were not motivated by personal goals and criteria but by his duty to shape developments in such a way as to ensure that Greece would continue after his departure on the best possible terms.

Urging members of the party to act in the same way, he defended the timing of his move as a response to Greek society’s urgent call for renewal.

”PASOK must act and not put itself in the position of being a spectator of events. Waiting rooms befit conservatism and the right, not us,” he stressed.

The premier sought to assuage concerns about the brief period of ‘dual leadership’ for PASOK, stressing that it will end on March 8 after the elections and noting that such a an arrangement had already been tested before in other European countries.

He also underlined that he would be an active presence in PASOK’s pre-election campaign and rejected the term ‘interim prime minister’ voiced by his critics, while noting that he would be present to assist the new president of PASOK with his experience and the work of the past eight years and that he would contribute to forming PASOK’s positions.

Simitis stressed that main opposition New Democracy was now viewing developments with “confusion and anxiety” after its hopes of conducting a pre-electoral campaign based on non-stop attacks against a government on the defensive were confounded. It would now have to answer questions that it had been trying to avoid, such as the precise details of its program, its stance on major foreign policy issues and how it intended to bring about the economic reforms it had announced, he said.

Finally, in a message that analysts believe was aimed at high-ranking PASOK members that have been slow to support his latest initiatives, such as Alekos Papadopoulos and Costas Laliotis, Simitis urged all members of PASOK to put personal egotism aside and bear in mind that this was not the way to win elections.

”When we win, we win together and when we lose, we lose together,” he concluded.

PAPANDREOU

FM Papandreou announces his intent to lead PASOK: Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who by all accounts will be the new president of ruling PASOK ahead of the March 7 elections, on Thursday announced his intention to “lead the great democratic faction”, as he said, a clear reference to his assumption of the prime minister’s post in place of PM Costas Simitis if PASOK wins the next elections.

Papandreou, speaking at the end of an urgently called PASOK central committee meeting, called an executive bureau proposal for the election of a new party leader by grassroots supporters a “ground-breaking event without precedent; it also expresses a new beginning, because society demands a say in order to jointly make decisions.”

Papandreou also called on the social strata he said traditionally supported PASOK, farmers, women, small business owners, to participate in a “process of dialogue to formulate the party’s program (statements) and the election of a president.”

“In this procedure, with a sense of responsibility and great emotion, I am submitting my request to lead this great democratic party,” his statement concluded.

PASOK votes to change party charter for election of new president: Members of ruling PASOK’s Central Committee on Thursday gave a yea vote to the prime minister’s proposal to change the party charter, so that the new party leader will be elected by PASOK’s entire support base, namely all PASOK ”members and friends”.

In a unanimous vote based on a count of hands, the Central Committee augmented by PASOK’s Parliamentary group approved the Executive Bureau’s proposal, as presented by PASOK Central Committee Secretary Mihalis Chrysohoidis.

Apart from a vote by the party base for the new president, the proposal also allows expanded participation in an emergency PASOK conference to be held on February 6.

Among those allowed to participate will be members of regional, prefectural and sector committees as representatives of organizations, the secretaries of recently-elected secretariats of local, municipal and other organizations, and of organizations linked to labor, representatives of PASOK Youth and members that are on the board of ”tertiary organizations with nationwide remits”.

The election for the new PASOK president will take place on February 8 and the details of the process will be worked out in the time leading up to the party conference by the Executive Bureau.

Addressing the gathering, Chrysohoidis praised the prime minister ”for giving a personal example of a leader who does not see power as a personal monopoly with an indefinite time limit”.

Turning on main opposition New Democracy, he accused it of ”attempting to reduce political argument to scandal-mongering and mud-slinging” and of seeking to ”dismantle the social state”.

COLLIN POWELL

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking at a press conference at the State Department on Thursday, referred to Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou’s decision to assume the leadership of the ruling PASOK party and to his political future, saying it is up to the Greek people to decide which party they want to rule them and who the next prime minister will be.

“George Papandreou is a very good friend of mine. We have done a great deal together during the past years. I congratulate him on the announcement he made today that he will claim the leadership of his party and I wish him every luck. But it is a free and open election and it is up to the Greek people to decide which party they want to rule them and who the next prime minister will be,” said Powell, who has worked closely with his Greek counterpart over the past three years.

And he concluded:
“I couldn’t help but notice, though, that as the news broke yesterday, there
were all these wonderful pictures of George running in shorts and George
jogging and George dancing, so the campaign has begun, clearly”.

NEW DEMOCRACY

The main opposition New Democracy (ND) party on Thursday continued its direct attack on the government and especially Prime Minister Costas Simitis, hours after the latter resigned as the head of ruling PASOK and a day after Simitis said he would step down after the March 7 general elections.

A ND spokesman charged that Simitis and PASOK are attempting to “muddle” the political waters, while noting that the ruling party and the problems it created remain unchanged.

“PASOK’s strategy will lead it to defeat,” spokesman Thodoris Roussopoulos predicted.

On his part, high-ranking ND deputy Prokopis Pavlopoulos said “those who tried to surprise the (domestic) political world … are still searching for a leader, for policy plans.”

In echoing previous statements by other ND cadres, Pavlopoulos said the out-going prime minister is “shadow boxing” and fleeing in order to avoid the Greek people’s judgment, “because with his stance he is admitting defeat, using images to deceive the citizenry.”

Finally, it was announced that Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni is expected to have a hands-on role in the campaign, with an address by her at a rally in the northeastern town of Alexandroupoli planned for Monday.