ATHENS, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis announced on national television on Wednesday an early parliamentary election.
Karamanlis did not name a date for the election, which is expected in early October.
"I am seeking a fresh political mandate... Taking necessary measures imposes one solution: the clearing of the political landscape and a fresh popular mandate."
The premier said he would ask President Karolos Papoulias on Thursday to dissolve parliament.
The conservative New Democracy Party's four-year mandate expires in 2011. However, the opposition PASOK Party (Panhellenic Socialist Movement), to which the president belongs, has said it will attempt to dissolve parliament in the spring of 2010.
New Democracy, headed by Karamanlis, holds a majority of just one seat in the legislature.
Karamanlis said the complex situation in the country and the consequences of the global financial crisis demand hard decisions.
"My goal was to finish out the four-year term of the government, but in order to do that there needs to be a proper political environment, which we don't have," he said, adding that the opposition is "painting a catastrophic picture of the country's economic development" but has not proposed any measures.
PASOK leader George Papandreou said his party plans to win the election. Opinion polls show the party leads but would fail to gain enough votes to form a one-party government.
