Selection: Michalis Katsigeras

FRONT AGAINST KARAMANLIS: In view of the opening of the parliamentary debate on the electoral bill, opposition parties have been discussing possible alliances in the coming elections. Immediately, however, radical disagreements have occurred, particularly between the Liberal Democratic Union (FDE) and the Liberals. The FDE leader, Mr Sophocles Venizelos, supports the merger of parties and supporters of the “democratic center” (FDE, Liberals, EPEK and DKEL), while the leader of the Liberals, Mr George Papandreou, proposes a purely pre-election collaboration. Moreover, EPEK is suggesting that it collaborate with the United Democratic Left (EDA), which does not seem unacceptable to the DKEL led by Messrs Alexandros Svolos and Georgios Kartalis. Meanwhile, both Mr Papandreou and Mr Venizelos have ruled out cooperation with the Communists. DEMONSTRATIONS: Over 300 schoolgirls staged a protest yesterday in front of the statue of King Constantine in Athens at the death sentence passed in Cyprus on the patriot Michail Karaolis. Police arrested 40 girls and took them back to their school where the headmaster locked them in a classroom and punished them with a fast.