Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 00-04-09

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] FIRST EXIT POLL: MAIN OPPOSITION SLIGHTLY AHEAD

[02] FIRST OFFICIAL RESULTS BY INTERIOR MINISTRY AT 8

[03] PASOK OPTIMISTIC, UNDAUNTED BY EXIT POLLS

[04] CLIFFHANGER ELECTIONS, NECK AND NECK RACE

[05] MAIN OPPOSITION AHEAD BY 1 PERCENTAGE POINT

[06] ANOTHER EXIT POLL GIVES LEAD TO PASOK

[07] ELECTORAL SYSTEM: PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION`

[08] GEORGIA: SHEVARDNADZE WINS, EXIT POLLS SHOW

[01] FIRST EXIT POLL: MAIN OPPOSITION SLIGHTLY AHEAD

The main opposition party of New Democrascy is reported to have a slight edge over the ruling PASOK party, according to the first exit poll conducted by the ALCO polling company.

Specifically, the poll's results are as follows:

New Democracy: 42.2 percent to 43.2 percent.

PASOK: 41.4% to 42.4%

Communist Party of Greece: 5.5% to 6.1%

Coalition of the Left and Progress: 3.8% to 4.

Democratic and Social Movement: 2.6% to 3.1%.

A.F.

[02] FIRST OFFICIAL RESULTS BY INTERIOR MINISTRY AT 8

The Ministry of the Interior is expected to announce the first official results of today's parliamentary elections, where, according to exit polls conducted by private firms, the main opposition conservative party of New Democracy appears to have the lead over the Socialist PASOK.

A total of 8,976,135 registered voters cast their ballot, while 18,959 polling stations opened throughout the country at 7:00 a.m.

A minimum of three percent nationwide is required for a party to gain a seat in parliament. The electoral body comprises 4,593,955 (or 51.2 percent) women and 4,382,180 (48.8 percent) men.

A.F.

[03] PASOK OPTIMISTIC, UNDAUNTED BY EXIT POLLS

Undaunted by exit polls that consistently grant the main opposition party of New Democracy the edge in today's parliamentary elections, ruling PASOK party officials continue to remain optimistic of a victory, awaiting the final results.

Pointing to the fact that the difference is still to early to call the election, PASOK's Vaso Papandreou stated that "we will just have to wait for official results".

The party which gets the largest percentage of the vote -- no matter how small a margin -- is all but guaranteed an absolute majority of seats in the 300-seat parliament.

PASOK has been in power since a landslide victory in 1981, except for a break between 1990 and 1993.

A.F.

[04] CLIFFHANGER ELECTIONS, NECK AND NECK RACE

With a 1.2% margin of error having been taken into consideration, New Democracy is reportedly ahead by half a percentage point according to the 8:30 p.m. results televised by the private television channel MEGA, which quotes the findings of MRB polling firm.

According to Mega, New Democracy party with between 42.5 and 44 percent, is ahead of PASOK which rose to between 42 and 43.5 percent.

Exit polls conducted by various firms throughout the country during today's general elections consistently show that the ruling Socialist party PASOK and the conservative main opposition of New Democracy are running an unprecedented neck and neck race.

A.F.

[05] MAIN OPPOSITION AHEAD BY 1 PERCENTAGE POINT

The conservative main opposition party of New Democracy is slightly ahead by one percentage point, according to most exit polls conducted by private firms.

According to political analysts, the outcome of this cliffhanger election is to be determined largely by first-time voters, as well as PASOK supporters who have veered to New Democracy.

Specifically, as the private polling firm ALCO reports, 8.1% of those who voted PASOK in the parliamentary elections of 1996 have cast their ballot for the main opposition party, while 3.7% of New Democracy supporters have voted for the incumbent party.

A.F.

[06] ANOTHER EXIT POLL GIVES LEAD TO PASOK

The ruling Socialist party, PASOK, presently holds a slight lead over the conservative main opposition of New Democracy, according to an exit poll conducted by the private firm Metron Analysis.

With a statistical error percentage of 1.2%, the poll grants PASOK 41.7% to 44.1 percent of the counted ballots, with New Democracy slightly behind with 41.6 - 44 percent.

Communist Party of Greece: 4.4% to 5.6%

Coalition of the Left and Progress: 3.3% to 4.5%

Democratic and Social Movement: 2.1% to 3.1%.

A.F.

[07] ELECTORAL SYSTEM: PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION`

Greece's electoral system, providing the basis on which the country's parliamentary elections took place today, is a system of reinforced proportional representation, in consecutive distributions of seats.

There is a three-percent threshold for entering the 300-seat parliament. At the end of three distributions of seats (see below) a further "smoothing out" process is applied to ensure that each party crossing the threshold has a minimum of 70% of the seats corresponding to its percentage of the vote.

Of the parliament's total seats, 288 are allocated to parties through the three consecutive distributions and the smoothing out process. The 12 seats occupied by state deputies are distributed directly to the parties, by the Simple Proportional System, in which the entire country is regarded as a single constituency. In the Single Seat constituencies, the system is practically first-past-the-post. For the purpose of distribution of seats the country is divided into:

A. First Distribution: Fifty-six electoral regions where the eligibility rate is calculated by the so-called "plus one" system (dividing 100% by N+1, where N is the number of the seats in each region, rather than dividing 100% by N.)

B. Second Distribution: Thirteen major regions for the seats not yet allocated in the first distribution process.

C. Third Distribution: A single nationwide region for the rest of the seats not yet allocated. The winning party is practically certain to secure absolute majority of seats in Parliament, even with a slight lead over the second party. It may fall just short of absolute majority if several factors combine, for example: if first and second parties fall below 40% and within less that 0,5% of each other; third party exceeds 10% of vote nationwide, and at least four smaller parties secure over 3% each.

A.F.

[08] GEORGIA: SHEVARDNADZE WINS, EXIT POLLS SHOW

The principal challenger to Eduard Shevardnadze's bid to be re-elected president of Georgia in today's elections conceded defeat shortly after polling booths closed.

"Judging from the exit polls, I've lost," said Dzhumber Patiashvili, whose campaign was based on criticism of President Shevardnadze for the country's widespread corruption and continued economic difficulties.

According to the AFP, he was speaking after an exit poll broadcast on local television indicated that Mr. Shevardnadze had won 60 percent of the votes cast.

A.F.

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