ATHENS, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his conservative New Democracy party are set to win a second term in national parliamentary elections after gaining more than 42 percent of the vote on Sunday.

    The following are some facts about Karamanlis:

    Born on Sept. 14, 1956, in Athens, Karamanlis studied law at Athens University, then law and diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States. He is married and a father of twins.

    Karamanlis has been active in New Democracy since his student days and worked only briefly as a lawyer before winning a seat in parliament in 1989 on behalf of the New Democracy party.

    In 1997, he was elected president of the New Democracy party, founded by his uncle, the late prime minister and president Constantine Karamanlis.

    In 2004, he led New Democracy to a landslide victory, which ended 11 years of socialist rule, after gaining 45.36 percent of the vote and 165 seats in the parliament. He became the youngest prime minister in modern Greek history.

    His government has won praise from the European Union for slashing budget deficits, pushing on with unpopular reforms and privatizations and putting the economy on a steady growth track.

    The country's economy has done well under the government of Karamanlis, with robust consumer spending and strong property market. Growth was expected to continue at more than 4 percent this year - one of the fastest growth rates in Europe. Unemployment has also plummeted, from 11.3 percent in 2004 to 7.7 percent as of May this year.

    Pledging to fight corruption, Karamanlis enjoys broad personal support despite some protests against his reforms.

    Karamanlis has been to China twice. He visited Beijing in 1979 with his uncle Constantine Karamanlis, then in 2006 as prime minister.