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The dilemma in the upcoming elections is "Karamanlis or Papandreou". After a long silence, which caused the distribution of different scenarios, the Prime Minister was forced to announce pre-term elections, because of within the party clashes in New Democracy.

Mr. Karamanlis illustrated the condition of the economy in grey colors and forecasted that the 2 upcoming years will be crucial for the country. He announced that the following government will be faced with three challenges: restricting state expenses, regular tax payments by everyone, who until now is not doing it, independently of his/her position in society and driving the reforms.

"If we do not act now, the upcoming dangers are frightening," warned Mr. Karamanlis and added that 2010 will be a hard year. The OM also said that it is not important to look for the one to blame but to find a way to "deal with the problems, which will come in the following years".

At 12:00PM today, the PM will meet with Karolos Papoulyas, President of Greece, in order to ask for dismissing the National Assembly and the official announcement for the elections. The ministry council will have a meeting one hour earlier and Kostas Karamanlis will analyze the reasons, which led him to make this decision.

The National Assembly will end its sessions tomorrow and on Monday a presidential bill will be distributed, which will legalize the elections on October 4. According to Greek law, elections can be held 30 days after the closing of the National Assembly.

So, from today starts the pre-election campaign of all parties and Kostas Karamanlis will have the opportunity to elaborate on his decision in front of producer representatives on Saturday on the International Thessaloniki exhibition. We must note that foreign minister Dora Bakoyanni said that Kostas Karamanlis will remain the leader of New Democracy even if the party loses the election in October.

Tonight the leader of the opposition party PASOK, Georgios Papandreou will speak at an outdoor rally on Thisio square, on the occasion of the 35^th anniversary of PASOK.