ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will meet with President Karolos Papoulias to make a formal request for early elections, Karamanlis said Wednesday.
Karamanlis gave a nationally televised address calling for a snap general election. He said he would meet with Papoulias Thursday, the Athens News Agency reported.
Asking the president to dissolve parliament is the first step in scheduling elections.
The prime minister called for immediate and significant reforms and declared "war" on tax evasion, which is a severe problem in Greece, the news service said.
Karamanlis cited the main opposition party's call for spring elections as his reason for calling for elections now.
The newspaper Kathimerini speculated the most likely date for the election would be Oct. 4 or 11.
