Greeks Vote Socialists Into Power - by Alkman Granitsas
Greece's opposition Socialists won national elections on Sunday as voters rejected the incumbent center-right party that had been tarred by scandals and unpopular economic policies during its five and a half years in office.George Papandreou, leader of the winning Socialist party, Pasok, told supporters, "We bear a great responsibility to change the course of the country." Pasok, the Socialist party, secured 43.9% of the vote in early official results, translating to 160 seats in Greece's 300-member parliament. Under Greece's reinforced proportional-representation system, the party with the largest number of votes is awarded seats based on overall results plus 40 bonus seats.
To tackle an unemployment rate of 9% and what is expected to be Greece's first recession in 15 years, Pasok has vowed to pursue a €3 billion ($4.4 billion) stimulus program. It has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy and clean up endemic corruption in the public sector.The European Commission has given Greece until the end of 2010 to bring its budget deficit below the European Union-mandated ceiling of 3% of GDP. The country is unlikely to meet that target. The Socialists will also have to tackle other problems, including cracking down on widespread tax evasion. It is estimated that about a quarter of tax revenue is lost through evasion.
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