WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- As the cheering, flag-waving supporters of the victorious New Democracy Party in Sunday's Greek election raced through the streets of Athens with car horns blaring, they passed half-finished, behind-schedule construction projects intended for use in this summer's Olympics.
Observers fear that the transfer of power from the socialist party, Pasok, to the conservative New Democracy could further disrupt the already delayed preparations for the games.
But Costas Karamanlis, the new prime minister designate, has vowed to make the Olympics one of his two priorities. The other is bringing to a conclusion the current U.N.-sponsored negotiations to re-unite the ethnically divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Each is a tall order. With five months to go, fewer than half the projects and structures related to the Olympics have been completed, including the giant glass-and-steel roof of the main stadium. The all-important security operation for the games has yet to be put in place at an estimated cost of $692 million. The International Olympic Committee has frequently gone public with its anxiety that preparations will not be completed in time.
Karamanlis said Sunday that his government would "make the best efforts so the Olympic Games are the best and the safest ever held. It is a great opportunity for Greece to show its modern face." To minimize the disruption, he has promised to retain key people in the government's Olympic planning team, particularly in the security field. Given the current mess of the arrangements, some say, a clean sweep may serve his purpose better.
If the games due to begin Aug. 10 turn out to be the disaster, some pessimists have been predicting Karamanlis would start his tenure with an international debacle of major proportions. But the opposite view is that the Greeks are capable of prodigious, last-minute efforts, and may yet save the day -- and the games.
The Cyprus negotiations are another cliff-hanger for Karamanlis.
On March 22, Greece and Turkey are expected to join seven-day talks with representatives of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and U.N. mediator Alvara de Soto to try and reach agreement on putting the island together again.
The talks should open the way for a referendum in the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on the U.N. unification plan ahead of the island's admission to the European Union on May 1. If the talks break down, Greek-Cyprus will join the EU on schedule, leaving Turkish-Cyprus behind -- a situation all those involved say they don't want.
Sunday's elections ousted Pasok after being in power continuously since 1993. New Democracy made stronger then expected gains, ending up with 45.4 percent of the vote against 40.5 percent for the outgoing Socialists, ensuring the conservatives of around 165 of the Greek parliament's 300 seats. The Greek Communist Party, one of the most dogmatic in Europe, obtained 5.8 percent of the vote.
Both Pasok and New Democracy promised reform of a bloated bureaucracy. Both were committed to ending the political nepotism and the economic favoritism that have been obstacles to the country's economic progress and have disaffected millions of Greeks. Both said that it was time for new blood to lead the country.
But ironically the race was between the descendants of two powerful political families that have dominated Greek politics for the past half-century. U.S.-born George Papandreou, 51, the former foreign minister who took over as leader of the Socialist Party in January, is the son and grandson of former Greek prime ministers.
U.S.-educated lawyer Costas Karamanlis, at 47 Greece's youngest prime minister since before World War II, is the nephew of former President Constantine Karamanlis, another key figure in post war Greek politics.
By putting a Papandreou in charge, the socialists had hoped to evoke memories of his charismatic father, Andreas Papandreou, and his grandfather. But many voters had come to see the socialists as synonymous with corruption, inefficiency and political arrogance, and not even Papandreou could counter the growing popularity of the opposition New Democracy.
