Greek Finance Minister Venizelos to Lead Pasok
Niki Kitsantonis
The change of power at the party, Pasok, comes as Greece prepares for a national election this spring.
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ATHENS — The finance minister of Greece, Evangelos Venizelos, assumed the leadership of the country’s embattled Socialist Party, known as Pasok, on Sunday as the country’s political parties prepared to face austerity-weary voters in a general election that is expected in late April or early May.

Mr. Venizelos took the reins from George A. Papandreou, who was prime minister until his government fell at the height of the country’s financial crisis last November. Mr. Venizelos, who mounted a strong but unsuccessful challenge to Mr. Papandreou for the party leadership in 2007, was unopposed this time after two rivals failed to attract adequate backing to run. The leader is chosen by a vote of the party’s members and supporters in what amounts to a national primary.

Mr. Venizelos was expected to give up his ministry post on Monday, either to one of his several deputies or to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, following a formal handover of the party post from Mr. Papandreou.

In a speech on Greek television shortly after the polls closed Sunday evening, Mr. Venizelos described the election as “a successful exercise in political readiness” and said that he would lead his party to “rebirth” and Greece to recovery. “Already, our country is at that crucial stage between the crisis and the now-palpable prospects for emerging from it,” he said.

Pasok, for decades the largest party in Greece with 40 percent of the vote or more in most elections, has seen its support plummet since the financial crisis took hold. The party took most of the blame for the painful rounds of austerity measures enacted in exchange for aid and debt relief from foreign creditors. Many of the measures fell most harshly on important parts of Pasok’s political base — public-sector workers — and amid the bitter internal rancor over the measures, the party expelled several members of Parliament who broke ranks during voting.

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