(4 Oct 2009)
Ippokratous street, Central Athens
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Party leader George Papandreou arriving at his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party headquarters, surrounded by people trying to reach him, crowd celebrating
2. PASOK supporters celebrating, waving flags
3. PASOK supporters chanting UPSOUND (Greek) : "Andrea (referring to Papandreou's father who was former party leader and Greek Prime) you are alive and you are guiding us."
4. SOUNDBITE: (Greek) Tasos Stasinopoulos, PASOK supporter:
"I want to say that I am very happy because I have lived the last few years with the government of Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy, the party of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis) and I have seen progress (with Papandreou's promises), after listening to different opinions and ideas."
5. Close up female immigrant, supporter of Pasok
6. SOUNDBITE (French): Mohammad Sarr, Senegalese immigrant, PASOK Supporter:
"We are hoping a lot of things. For the country, for the workers, for the foreigners, no matter what, it's true that everything will go well."
7. Various of PASOK supporters celebrating with flares
8. Mid of supporters waving flags
Klathmonos Square, Central Athens
9. Long continuous shot of PASOK supporters watching the first exit polls on a large screen on stage, celebrating with fireworks, blowing horns and chanting UPSOUND (Greek) : "PASOK is here united and strong."
Syntagma Square, Central Athens
++NIGHT SHOTS++
10. Wide of parliament, people walking on square
12. Wide of Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy) party election campaign headquarters
13. SOUNDBITE: (Greek) Alexandros Panagiotakopoulos, voter:
"What I believe is happening today is that Karamanlis is paying for his past mistakes, for the financial situation, mistakes with self employed people, with what happened last December, with foreign policy."
14. Mid of New Democracy supporters
15. Mid of New Democracy election campaign headquarters with Karamanlis photo on the backdrop
STORYLINE:
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Sunday stepped down from the leadership of his conservative party following a humbling defeat to the Socialists in a national election.
The 53-year-old Karamanlis said he would not be a candidate again for the presidency of the party his late uncle Constantine Karamanlis founded 35 years ago, to the day.
The Socialists won the early election by a landslide, initial results indicated, as voters angered by repeated scandals and a faltering economy
ousted Karamanlis' government.
Official results from 39.66 percent of votes counted showed former foreign minister George Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, ahead with 43.66 percent, compared to 35.29 percent for Karamanlis' Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy) party.
If the figures remain unchanged, the result gives PASOK a comfortable majority of about 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, bringing the party back to power after five years of conservative governance.
The Greek Communist Party, far right-wing LAOS and the small Left Coalition are expected to retain their representation in Parliament, while
the Ecologist-Greens were hovering on the fringe of the 3 percent threshold for entry.
Fifty-seven-year-old Papandreou, now follows in the footsteps of his father, party founder Andreas Papandreou, and grandfather and namesake George Papandreou, both of whom served several terms as prime ministers.
Outside party headquarters, jubilant supporters celebrated by lighting flares and waving PASOK flags depicting the party's symbol of a green rising sun.
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