Conservatives set to win Greek election

Greek conservatives were poised to easily win a general election on Sunday, returning to power after 11 years of socialist rule, first exit polls showed.
The first poll by privately-run Alter Television, released minutes after voting ended, forecast conservative leader Costas Karamanlis' New Democracy Party winning 44.5 to 47 percent of the vote, ahead of the incument PASOK socialists of George Papandreou with 38.5 to 41 percent.
Other television stations agreed the margin of victory would be around five percentage points, a huge gap in Greek elections. "The picture we have from all exit polls is that we have New Democracy winning the elections by a huge margin," Alter anchor Nikos Evangelatos said.
"Obviously this points to a great victory for New Democracy," said Dimitris Avramopoulos, a candidate for the party and former Mayor of Athens.
The election, called last January when the conservatives had an opinion poll lead of up to seven percentage points, was regarded as the most significant since military rule ended in 1974.
New prime minister Karamanlis, a US-educated lawyer who will be Greece's first leader born after World War two and the bitter 1946-49 civil war between conservatives and communists that followed, will be racing against two key deadlines in just his first five months.
Decisions are needed on reuniting Greek and Turkish Cypriots before the island joins the European Union in May and on how to speed up preparations for the August 13-29 Games.
The new government's other main tasks during its four year term, include tackling inflation and nearly 10 percent unemployment.
The main choice was between the inheritors of two family political dynasties that have dominated modern Greek politics.
On the right was Karamanlis, nephew of a former prime minister who led Greece out of military dictatorship.
On the left was PASOK leader George Papandreou, grandson and son of former prime ministers, who failed in a bid to win the party's fourth consecutive election since 1993.
In the 2000 election, PASOK won 158 seats in the 300-member parliament. New Democracy, under Karamanlis took 125.
There were few major policy differences between the two parties, with each promising incentives to attract wary foreign businesses as well as better health care and education.