Greek main opposition leader calls for change, steady gov't before elections _English

Greek main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement Party (PASOK) leader, George Papandreou addresses at his last pre-election rally in Athens on October 1, 2009. Greek main opposition PASOK held its rally in Athens on Oct. 1 ahead of the General elections on Sunday.(Xinhua Photo)
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ATHENS, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Pledging "a new beginning" for the country, Greek main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou called on Greeks Thursday night to cast their votes in favor of the socialists in Oct. 4 general elections and hand them over a wide majority in the new parliament in order to form a strong and steady government.

Addressing the last big rally of PASOK ahead of Sunday's elections at Pedion tou Areos Square in the center of Athens under the cheers of thousands of supporters of the party who waved flags, he asked that "no vote will be lost and everyone will go and vote on Sunday and take part in the new battle to rebuild Greece."

Supporters of the main Greek opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement Party (PASOK) wave flags during PASOK's pre-election rally in Athens on October 1, 2009.Greek main opposition PASOK held its rally in Athens on Oct. 1 ahead of the General elections on Sunday. (Xinhua Photo)
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The scion of a big political dynasty and former foreign minister, Papandreou repeated his vision on running the country with "respect and meritocracy" if PASOK wins the elections, as most political analysts expect, asking people to check his policy platform point by point as it is posted on the internet from Thursday.

He finished his speech with the main slogan of his party's campaign "It's time to put the citizen first."

In a live televised 'dialogue with the citizens' a few hours earlier the incumbent Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis of the conservative New Democracy party, who asked for the early elections "in order to get a fresh mandate from the people to solve the economic crisis," accused again PASOK of "vagueness."

On the last day of the election campaign on Friday night, Karamanlis will close the curtain with a speech at the main rally of New Democracy at Pedion tou Areos.