Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis appealed to tens of thousands of supporters to select a stable government that could reform the country, during his main pre-election rally Friday, according to DPA. "For the country to move forward there is one crucial requirement, a stable government," Karamanlis told supporters in central Athens. "A government that takes quick and bold decisions for changes and reform." Confident his conservative party would secure an easy victory with its economic record, Karamanlis, who swept to power in 2004, called elections in August, six months before his term was due to end. But barely one week after calling for snap elections, the country found itself in a state of emergency as forest fires swept through the country, leaving death and destruction in their path.
