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To Vima newspaper reports that the Greek parliament will be adjourned on 6 April and early elections will be held on 29 April.

In this regard, Interior Minister Tassos Yianitsis, who has assumed the conduct of the election contest, will need to execute a very difficult task. The Supervisory Troika managed to impose cost reduction by over a third for the election - from 83.3 million Euros spent on the parliamentary elections in 2009, the amount set for holding the upcoming elections amounts to 50 million Euros.

"Austerity measures will have to come into effect", say senior officials in the ministry. Tassos Yianitsis has already requested "internal settlement" on the issue of election costs management, which mainly refers to providers of electoral materials and wages and those amounts should not exceed 50 million Euros. Therefore, the issue of those who will be entitled to the so-called electoral allowances and the amount of these bonuses will definitely be revisited. So far, they have been given to certain categories of staff in ministries and the public sector as an incentive for voting. Under the new circumstances, only certain employees of the Ministry of the Interior will receive electoral bonuses, perhaps those who are directly involved in the selection procedure.

The costs for the benefits for legal representatives will be dramatically reduced: depending on the distance, so far they have been receiving between 1,000 and 1,500 Euros. Now the amount will be limited to around 500 Euros. In any case the "losers" are the ones employed in local government bodies for which the election benefits were included in addition to their transport costs. But this benefit was cancelled in the new payroll table. Employees want this benefit to be returned and they threaten that otherwise they will not even open the polling stations. The Ministry will try to ensure the allocation of a small amount as an election benefit, however, it will not even come close to covering the losses from the cancellation of the transport costs benefit.

Political parties also aim towards low budget elections, since their finances are in red as well. Finding sponsors on the other hand, is hindered by a general lack of resources available on the market. Therefore, the parties put their hopes in the granting of the full amount from the state subsidy, to which they are entitled, and from the election subsidies, in order to finance the elections.

However, if the bill of Thassos Yianitsis passes, the parties will be in a very difficult situation. The Minister of Interior Affairs has sent a Bill to the Commission on Institutions and Transparency, which reduces the state subsidy by 25 percent and the election subsidy by 30 percent. If this bill passes, especially if introduced retrospectively, the parties will not receive the fourth instalment for 2011, and the election subsidy will be cut.

"The next elections will be elections not only of political but also of economic thought," said the Secretary of PASOK Rovertos Spiropoulos. He is optimistic that his party will eventually be able to finance the electoral race. But this will only happen in the event that the normal state subsidy for the last quarter of 2011 is granted, including 50 percent of the funding for 2012 and the election subsidy. According to economic data the PASOK party, which owes over 113.8 million Euros to banks, must pay interest only for about 4.9 million Euros. He hopes, however, that the party will ultimately receive 5.4 million Euros from the state subsidy for 2011, about 2.7 million Euros from the subsidy for 2012 and 200,000 Euros from parliament members. "Around 5 million Euros plus the electoral subsidy remain in order to finance the elections", said Spiropoulos.

He is sure that this money will not be enough to transport party supporters to their hometowns to vote, so PASOK will not begin a similar procedure. This means that voters who have to travel in order to vote, will have to bear the costs for their trip alone. The money will not be enough for wasteful polling centres as well. "As you know, in the 2009 elections PASOK did not print posters and billboards," said Spiropoulos. "The party will do the same now as well."

Things look the same way when it comes to New Democracy as well. "The elections will be low-budget", said the chief party secretary Athanasios Skordas. On the occasion of Yianitsis’ bill to reduce state subsidies, he said: "We would not have minded if this bill was providing a lasting solution. The issue cannot be solved piece by piece."

Athanasios Skordas believes that the interest his party needs to pay exceeds the amount of the last payment of state subsidy for 2011. New Democracy has already delayed by 15 days the payment of salaries to its employees and it is not paying suppliers either. "We do not want even one euro as a present," says Skordas regarding the amendment introduced in parliament by the two major parties (PASOK and New Democracy) for the settlement of their debts to banks. "We proposed an extension of repayment, so that 50 percent of the subsidy can be spent for this purpose and the remaining 50 percent can cover our costs."

It is expected that the Party will cut its election costs. This way wasteful polling centres will be limited, the distribution of ballots will be assigned to the candidates themselves, and travel costs will be limited to members of the Party. “If 17,500 polling stations are opened, the Party will need to mobilize 35,000 representatives in order to cover both shifts. If we decide to offer them a cup of coffee and a sandwich, the amount jumps to over 100,000 Euros. Under the current conditions, even such an amount is hard to find," says Athanasios Skordas.