Greece's socialists were voting on Sunday for a new leader, with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos set to take the reins of the historic party to try and avert disaster in upcoming elections. A French-educated law professor from the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki, Venizelos stands unopposed to take over the Pasok party which has ruled Greece for a combined two decades since democracy was restored in 1974 after a seven-year army dictatorship.
The last two years in power, however, have been marked by austerity pain in the debt-wracked country and the outcome of the legislative elections expected within months, is far from certain.
The 55-year-old has said that Sunday's elections are an opportunity to rally the party's ahead of the polls.
"I am certain that with a large turnout we will prove wrong all those who think that the great democratic party can't recover," he said after casting his ballot in a suburb in western Athens.
Venizelos is hoping to capitalise on a record deal with private investors last week to erase more than 100 billion euros ($130 billion) of near and midterm debt to give Greece time to enact additional reforms needed for future loans. But the International Monetary Fund reminded Athens on Friday that the pressure remains very much in place.
Greece has "little if any margin" for slippage on reforms under its new bailout programme, according to IMF documentation for its loan to Athens. The International Monetary Fund, which decided a new 28 billion euro loan for Greece on Thursday said Greece could reach its debt reduction targets if it adheres to the tough austerity measures - including slashing minimum wages, trimming pensions and cutting 15,000 public jobs this year.
But if implementation moves too slowly or falls short, or if the economy does not respond to reforms as fast as expected, "a deeper recession and a much higher debt trajectory would be the likely result."
"Political risks linked to the electoral calendar create additional uncertainty about policy implementation," the IMF added. Venizelos insists that his goal is to win the next legislative election, which has not been officially announced but is expected in late April or early May.
"The goal can only be victory," the bullish minister said last week. "We have a crisis in progress ahead of us, one that we must manage." Around 390,000 card-carrying party members and millions of supporters have been called to participate in Sunday's nation-wide procedure which will give an early indication of Venizelos' chances of turning around the party.
After two years in power before a coalition government was formed with the conservative New Democracy in November 2011, Pasok has been identified with an unpopular EU-IMF economic rescue plan and faces the lowest ratings in its 37-year history. Appointed to the finance ministry in June, one of Venizelos' first acts was to push through an austerity law worth 28 billion euros ($37 billion), including 50 billion euros in privatisation measures, in the teeth of violent street protests.
The party's outgoing leader George Papandreou, son of Pasok founder Andreas Papandreou, was forced to step down as prime minister a few months later to avert a backbencher revolt in parliament.