Ta Nea, 5 October 2009

“George’s historic victory!” headlines Ta Nea the morning after the Greek socialist party won the nation’s 4 October early elections. With 44% of the vote against 33% for the New Democracy Party of conservative incumbent PM Costas Caramanlis, George Papandreou’s Pasok party has repainted the electoral map green, its colour, the “colour of hope”, exults the centre-left daily. “But there’s no time to lose,” urges Ta Nea. “Reforms are a must: we need to get the economy back on its feet, fight corruption, reform the justice, health care and education systems. This son of a prime minister” – actually, George’s father and grandfather were both Greek PMs – “really has his work cut out for him.”