Karamanlis mulls his options

Three new opinion polls show PASOK ahead of ND, as PM looks for way to give his party a boost

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis spent the weekend considering what his next move will be to dislodge New Democracy from the rut it is in, as three new opinion polls yesterday suggested that the conservatives had slipped behind PASOK in popularity.

Sources close to the premier told Sunday’s Kathimerini that Karamanlis is fully aware of the difficult position his party is in after taking a battering from a series of scandals and persistent infighting as well as the global financial crisis.

Privately, Karamanlis appears to have ruled out the possibility of conducting an immediate Cabinet reshuffle. Although the resignation of Giorgos Voulgarakis as merchant marine minister offered him the perfect opportunity to herald in changes, Karamanlis fears that the positive effect of any reshuffle would be nullified by the current climate.

The prime minister is said to be thinking of waiting until December, when he hopes things will have settled down and the budget will have been passed through Parliament, before making changes. In terms of grand gestures that could shake ND from its current state, ruling out a reshuffle leaves Karamanlis with few other options. Sources said that an alternative would be to call for a vote of confidence in Parliament. That would be a way to rally his own party, which has been mired by internal bickering. Another option to solve this problem is to expel a rebel MP as an example to others. But with a majority in Parliament of just two deputies, this could be risky. Finally, Karamanlis could also sack a minister at the first sign that he or she has done something inappropriate to show that he is serious about tackling corruption.

Yesterday’s polls would have only better focused the prime minister’s attention, as three out of four surveys put PASOK ahead. A poll by Opinion for the Vima newspaper had the Socialists 2.6 percent ahead; Alco’s survey for Proto Thema suggested the gap was at 2 percent and MRB for Eleftheros Typos indicated the difference was 1.1 percent. A RAS survey for the Paron newspaper indicated ND was ahead by just 0.6 percent. None of the polls gave a clear parliamentary majority to either party.