ATHENS, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has set early parliamentary elections for October 4.
"I am seeking a fresh political mandate," he said in televised public address, adding that there was a pressing need to "set the political stage" for a new "popular mandate."
The prime minister said he would ask President Karolos Papoulias 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 seek to dissolve parliament in the spring of 2010.
New Democracy, headed by Karamanlis, holds a majority of just one seat in the national legislature.
Karamanlis said the complex situation in the country and the consequences of the global financial crisis necessitated hard decisions.
"My goal was to serve out the four-year term, but for that to be done, there needs to be an appropriate political environment, which we don't have," he said, adding that the opposition "is painting a doomsday picture of the country's economic development."
PASOK leader George Papandreou said his party is confident of victory. Opinion polls show the party is in the lead but will fail to garner enough votes to form a one-party government.
