PASOK victory rally

PASOK victory rally, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

With just over half the vote counted Greece's ruling conservatives, New Democracy seem to have suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the opposition socialist, PASOK party which has won the majority of the 300 seats in the country's parliament.

Prime minister Costas Karamanlis announced his decision to stand down as the leader of New Democracy in the wake of the elections results.

It appears that the Greek electorate have decided to lost faith in the present government whoσε re-election in 2007 was quickly followed by a series of dozens of corruption and influence peddling scandals, many involving top government officials. In addition the riots which rocked Athens and many other cities following the death of a 15 year old at the hands the police also damaged Karamanlis's public image.

However, the death knell for New Democracy was sounded by the recent forest fires which destroyed much of the area around Athens, almost two years to the day after the previous round of fires which cost the lives of 84 Greeks.

US president Barack Obama was the first foreign leader to congratulate head of PASOK, Giorgos Papandreou on his election as the country's next prime minister.