Workmen prepare the entrance of the Peace and Friendship Stadium, where New Democracy’s congress will be held today and tomorrow. Just under 4,500 delegates will attend. The biggest group (650 delegates) will be unionists. Almost 1,400 will be from the Attica region. Of those attending, 45 percent will be over the age of 50.

The two main candidates hoping to be elected leader of New Democracy will today have a chance to convince some 4,500 conservative delegates that they are capable of leading the party back to power.

Former Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and ex-Culture Minister Antonis Samaras are due to address the extraordinary ND congress, called after the party’s crushing defeat in the October 4 general elections, with the hope of staking a convincing claim to the post being vacated by the current president, Costas Karamanlis.

The third candidate, outspoken Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis, who does not have a realistic chance of winning but could end up being a deciding factor in the final outcome, will also address party supporters at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Neo Faliro, southern Athens.

In a speech at a hotel in the capital yesterday, Psomiadis promised to speak honestly about the party’s plight and to make some conservatives uncomfortable. “It is time to get rid of our masks,” he said.

The two-day congress is being held so that delegates can approve a change to the party’s constitution that will allow all members to vote in the November 29 leadership elections.

Many conservatives fear that it could end up being a divisive meeting, more so on the second day when delegates will discuss the reasons for ND’s poor performance at the polls last month. In his speech today, Karamanlis is expected to call for unity within the party in a bid to prevent serious splits.