Florakis: I read writing on wall
Harilaos Florakis, the Communist Party’s octogenerian honorary president, provoked a political storm late Wednesday when he declared to reporters that he was «100 percent» certain that conservative party leader Costas Karamanlis will become prime minister. The ruling PASOK party, already on the defensive because recent opinion polls have placed it eight percentage points behind Karamanlis’s New Democracy, hinted darkly at a possible Left-Right allliance such as that which led to an unprecedented coalition of conservatives and Communists in 1989. National elections are not due until early 2004 but the government is bracing for municipal and provincial elections this October, with reports emerging from PASOK that if the party does badly, voices will be raised calling for Prime Minister Costas Simitis’s replacement. Government spokesman Christos Protopappas demanded to know whether Florakis «knows whether agreements have been made by his party with regard to the local elections that we are not aware of.» He added that «if this is such political small talk, there is no problem. But if there are agreements, then there is a serious political issue.» Florakis, 88, who was instrumental in setting up that government in the year the Socialists refer to as the «dirty ’89,» made light of the issue yesterday. «All I said is what the polls say and what everyone is saying,» Florakis commented on the furor. The veteran Communist attended a ceremony commemorating the fourth anniversary of the death of conservative statesman Constantine Karamanlis, the current ND leader’s uncle. Responding to a reporter’s question as to whether he thought the younger Karamanlis would become prime minister, Florakis said «100 percent.»
