Global Greek Events - Greek Elections 2009 - With a Touch of Humour!!!

Photo Source: Unknown

And the Greek People have voted.....Presenting the ideal Prime Minister for Greece, Giorgo-Costas Kar-andreou!!!




Photo Source: ATSARANTOS

George n' Costas



Photo source: ATSARANTOS

Obama - OMama!!

Photo source: ATSARANTOS

Reporter Nikos Hatzinicolaou: Mr Papandreou, What will change in Greece if PASOK is elected to govern?

G A Papandreou (GAP) : First of all we will no longer be known as PsoroCostaina (traditional nickname for Greece back in the days when it was a very poor country)

Reporter: And what will we be known as?

GAP: PsoroGeorgena!!!

Joking aside, this weekend is Election weekend in Greece with PM Costa Karamanlis winding up the campaigning with his speech at Nea Dimokratia's Election Rally at Pedion tou Areos in Athens last night!

Now it's time to think before casting our votes tomorrow, for those of us who vote in Greece...!

Our only criteria is what's best for Greece and our people, both in Greece and all over the world. Whichever party wins the elections, we want them to put Greece and it's interests, both domestic and international, above everything else and that means taking many decisive and effective steps starting from Day 1! Greece does not have the luxury of time to grant any government 100 days to adjust!

Steps must be taken to save the economy from it's downward spiral and this involves a lot of things –

imposing and collecting taxes equitably, from each and everyone who earns income and not just the salaried employees,

cracking down on all those who seek and get payments on the side, forcing people to bear unbearable debt burdens just so that they can obtain medical treatment or education for themselves or their loved ones, things to which they are entitled as part of a functional and organised society,

collecting social security payments from all, employees and public or private sector employers alike, to ensure continuity of pensions and benefits for those who qualify,

ensuring that everyone gets paid fairly, and does the work they are paid to do, whether they are in the public or private sector, whether or not they are related to, or political cronies of, the people in power,

ensuring that the public service is streamlined and brought down to manageable proportions so that it is not a burden to the National Economy by appointing employees based on their qualifications and their ability to do their job, not who they know, and by providing objectives and incentives to all employees, to ensure the high quality of the services provided to the public-at-large

and above all,

enforcing the laws of the country which should be applicable to everyone irrespective of the status of the person involved, rich or poor, whether they have connections to the corridors of power or not.

We personally will applaud any government that puts an end to the endemic corruption in our country and which effectively has placed us in this unenviable position. It is time to act to change all this and it needs to be changed from the top down!

The best way to lead is by example…

Think, and above all, vote wisely!

Kali Psifo :)

For those who love the classic Black and White Greek Movies here is one, very appropriate one, Yparxei kai Filotimo, with Lambros Konstandaras as Mavrogialouro, the consummate Greek politician...not much has changed in the over 40 years since then but we are hoping that our politicians have finally got the message and that from tomorrow things will change for the better!!!!!!

To read what the main parties have to say, their election platforms, rallies, speeches and to see photos and TV, spots click on each name

Nea Demokratia (New Democracy)

PASOK (Pan Hellenic Socialist Party)

KKE (Greek Communist Party)

SYRIZA (Coalition of the Left and Progressive Parties)

LAOS (People's Orthodox Movement)

Oikologoi Prasinoi (Ecologist Green Party)

Many thanks to fellow blogger Atsarantos, the source of most of our funny pix above and to Mary M (Greece) and Jim C (NZ) for sending them to us!

To find out more about the elections, Click here

For LIVE Election Coverage on Sunday 4th October, on radio and television, Click here

Global Greek Events - Greek Elections 2009

Greeks go to the polls this weekend to decide who will run the country for the next few years and in the midst of a global economic crisis.

These elections are probably the first where issues affecting Global Greeks, wherever they may be, have been touched upon, since current Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis announced that his government would bring in legislation to allow ethnic Greeks all over the world to participate in Greece's General Elections.

George Papandreou, leader of PASOK, the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Party, now in Opposition but Greece's next Prime Minister according to the various polls doing the rounds, and a Diaspora Greek himself, spoke to Peter Wilson from the newspaper "The Australian" .

We quote the following from The Australian, today 1 October 2009.

Voting Australians of Greek heritage have been promised a wave of reforms to increase their involvement with their former country by a man who is expected to be elected prime minister of Greece this weekend.

George Papandreou, the opposition leader who enjoys a hefty lead in pre-election opinion polls, said yesterday he planned to improve the recognition of Australian university degrees and change other regulations to make it easier for Greek-Australians to work in the country.

Members of the Greek diaspora would also be allowed, for the first time, to vote in the nation's elections without the expense of travelling to Greece, and any obstacles blocking the quick payment of Greek pensions to thousands of qualified recipients in Australia would be promptly removed, he said.

Mr Papandreou's centre-left party PASOK leads the five-year-old conservative government of Costas Karamanlis in the polls by about 37 per cent to 30 per cent and is strongly tipped to win Sunday's election. The win would break a string of losses for centre-left parties in Europe.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian before an election rally in Thessaloniki last night, Mr Papandreou, 57, said he would encourage skilled members of the Greek diaspora to spend some time working in their former country, which would require withdrawing hurdles such as the need for military service and restrictive hiring rules at government agencies.

"We would have to create a specific law which would give this possibility to open up positions for, let's say, two or three years for experts and advisers to come ... and work here," he said.

While the population of Greece is 11million, there are estimated to be up to 7 million people of Greek descent living abroad. Some 365,000 people told Australia's 2006 census their ancestry within the past two generations was Greek.

One area that has frustrated many of those Australians is Greece's refusal to recognise three-year bachelor degrees awarded by Australian universities as the equivalent of Greek degrees, which take four years.

"No one can deny that Australian universities are high quality universities," said Mr Papandreou, who did his university studies in Sweden, the US and Britain.

"There are obviously countries that give degrees that are much lower quality -- Australia is not one of them.

"Sometimes these procedures are overly bureaucratic and unfair to countries like Australia and of course to the degree holders who have gotten this education. So I think we have to find a more simple way and a more fair way to evaluate and to recognise these degrees."

More than 1 million of Greece's 9.7million registered voters live overseas but current electoral laws require them to travel to Greece to vote in their original electorates -- usually their place of birth.

But Mr Papandreou said he would like to see three to five seats put aside in the 300-seat national parliament for the Greek diaspora, who would be allowed to vote by mail or at consulates.

Prime Minister Karamanlis received an avid response from a large crowd in Sydney in May 2007, when he promised to give all registered voters an absentee ballot.

But such reforms need a two-thirds majority in parliament and PASOK vetoed the move, complaining it allowed consular votes but not postal votes and would have continued to count diaspora votes in existing seats rather than creating special seats as Italy has done.

The fact Mr Karamanlis now rules with only a one-seat majority shows that three to five new "diaspora" seats could prove influential, but Mr Papandreou's system would still give each registered overseas voter less clout than a domestic voter.

To read original article and hear Peter Wilson's full interview with George Papandreou in Thessaloniki for The Australian, Click Here.