Socialist Party

The leadership race for the opposition socialist PASOK party is underway on Sunday, with voting beginning at 7 a.m. at 950 polling stations across Greece. 

Polls close at 7 p.m., although voting may be extended if turnout is high, especially in Athens and Thessaloniki. 

About 65,671 citizens had voted by 11 a.m.

Albanian opposition lawmakers violently disrupted a Parliament session Monday to protest the imprisonment of a fellow legislator for alleged slander.

The conservative Democratic Party of Albania has long accused the ruling Socialist Party of usurping all the powers, including the judiciary, and staged violent protests against the government since 2013.

Herbert Kickl, leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), described the historic victory in Sunday’s elections as the beginning of a new era.

Kickl’s party secured 29.2% of the vote and 58 seats in parliament, although this does not grant them a majority (Austria’s parliament has 183 seats).

As the battle for the leadership of socialist PASOK heats up ahead of Sunday's election, contenders are honing their strategies to ensure high voter turnout. 

Incumbent Nikos Androulakis is plugging aims to solidify a message of unity, leveraging his recent successful debate performance.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's hard-won new government faced pressure from day one on Sunday, as it came under fire from opponents on both the left and far right, which are now the largest blocs in parliament.

Bulgaria's Central Election Commission (CEC) has authorized 24 parties and 9 coalitions to participate in the upcoming early parliamentary elections on October 27. This marks a slight increase from the previous elections held on June 9, where 20 parties and 11 coalitions were registered.

Given the different protagonists and characteristics of the two given times, it would seem somewhat excessive to draw similarities between PASOK's heyday in 1981, when it gained such widespread popularity with its pledges for change, and the realistic possibility of the socialist party reclaiming its position in second place as the main contender for power against New Democracy today because of

Anna Diamantopoulou, former European Commissioner for Social Affairs and minister, called on Wednesday for a live televised debate between the candidates in PASOK's upcoming leadership election.

Diamantopoulou, 65, said she had formally requested the socialist party's ethics committee to clarify why a date for the debate had not yet been set.

The consensus that PASOK must once again play a leading role in Greece's center-left defined Tuesday evening's event at the Zappeion commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the socialist party. This sentiment, however, was expressed in varying tones and with different references to history.

PASOK will celebrate on Tuesday the 50th anniversary since the foundation of the socialist party with an event in central Athens.