FInal voters targeted
New Democracy and PASOK fought it out yesterday in a bid to win over undecided voters with less than 48 hours left in the campaign before Sunday’s general election. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’s speech at a public rally in central Athens tomorrow night will mark the end of campaigning and he suggested measures yesterday that could help ND attract swing voters. Almost two weeks ago, when the last opinion polls were published, almost 20 percent of those questioned were still undecided. On the day that a European court ruled that Olympic Airlines only has to pay back part of the illegal state subsidies it received in the past, Karamanlis said that he intends to shut down the carrier if a full reprieve cannot be achieved. He also hinted that he was considering ending all «jobs for life» in the state sector if the necessary constitutional reforms could be made. «We will follow the road that has proved to bring benefits to everyone, or we will return to the public deficits and insecurity of yesterday,» Karamanlis told supporters on the island of Lesvos. PASOK leader George Papandreou is set to give his key public address of the election campaign at a rally in Athens today. He ramped up the pressure on the government yesterday by saying that if he wins the election, PASOK will give uninsured housewives a pension of 550 euros a month; almost double what they get now. Papandreou also accused the government of having a «secret agenda» that plans to increase the retirement age. Papandreou has been repeatedly questioned about how he will finance his ambitious social spending plans. He has indicated that stamping out tax evasion will be one of the sources of extra income. «We have made our program public and it is clear where the money will come from,» he told Reuters yesterday. «Greece needs a new development model based on the environment, the nurturing of knowledge and social cohesion,» added the 55-year-old. Rumors that former Socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis would be called into the Cabinet should Papandreou win the election were quashed yesterday. Sources close to Simitis said that he was not looking for an active return to the political scene.
