November 10, 2011
Greece’s political leaders have chosen Lucas Papademos, a former vice-president of the European Central Bank, to head an interim government tasked with implementing a new international bail-out and taking the country to early elections.
The 64-year old technocrat emerged as a consensus candidate on Thursday after four days of frantic politicking, in which half a dozen names were floated and rejected – including that of Mr Papademos himself.
For George Papandreou, the outgoing premier, it has been anything but a smooth transition of power. More than 50 lawmakers in his PanHellenic Socialist Movement threatened to resign if he insisted on backing a close but unpopular ally, Philippos Petsalnikos, Speaker of parliament, for the premiership.
Antonis Samaras, the conservative leader who supported Mr Papademos, appeared to have secured a deal for elections to be held on February 19, in effect placing the former central banker in the role of a caretaker premier. His New Democracy party currently holds an eight-point lead over Pasok, according to opinion polls.
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