who would be the more appropriate Prime Minister, G. Papandreou concentrated 46.3% and C. Karamanlis 39.5%.

Responses on the intention of voting still show ND ahead with 39.7% and PASOK following with 37.3%, the KKE with 5%, the Coalition with 2.5%, DIKKI with 1.6% and LAOS with 1.4%. Another 9.2% stated that they "do not know" who they would vote for, 0.2% ch ose not to answer, 1.8% selected a blank vote, while 1.3% would vote for a different party. In comparison to the last Alco polls, carried out in September the distance between ND and PASOK has dropped from 6.7% to 2.4%.

As regards to who would be the more appropriate Prime Minister, G. Papandreou concentrated 46.3% and C. Karamanlis 39.5%.

The polls show a significant decrease in the so-called "victory probability" between the two parties, meaning which party the people expect will win in the elections. 42.5% believe New Democracy will win the elections and 38.8% believe PASOK will (a 3.7%

difference). In the last panhellenic poll Alco carried out, ND was 21 points ahead.

A positive view on Giorgos Papandreou was expressed by 63.5% of those asked and a negative view by 24.5%. Concerning the President of ND, 51% of those asked expressed a positive view, while 35.4% expressed a negative view.

Regarding Prime Minister Costas Simitis, 45.8% expressed a positive view and 44.2% expressed a negative view.

The majority of the participants in the polls asked Giorgos Papandreou of a change in policy in most sectors (economy, employment, healthcare, education).

The poll was carried out panhellenically on a sample of 2000 people, from January 7 to January 12.

will win the March 7 elections. Minister of the Mercantile Marince Giorgos Paschalidis made mention of abuse of the statements he made yesterday, that "the essence comes before style".

the National Radio-television Council. Mr. Karamanlis also visited the offices of the "Doctors Without Borders" NGO.

a political message regarding a new type of governance, that of open society, addressing his party's candidate parliament deputies today.

Speaking in his first joint appearance with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis after PASOK's Central Committee extraordinary meeting, Mr. Papandreou also said that the climate in the country's political scene has changed and stressed that there is panic in th e right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, which "was forced to review its pre-election tactic and strategy."

Referring to the country's governance by PASOK, Mr. Papandreou spoke of mistakes and phenomena of arrogance.

He pointed out that PASOK is a political party of change, underlining that under Mr. Simitis' premiership big steps have been made and continue to be made such as the country's accession into the EMU, the big technical projects, the reform in local admin istration, Cyprus' EU accession, the successful Greek EU Presidency, and the feverish preparations for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

In the meeting, Mr. Sajtikramov expressed satisfaction for the Greek government's response to all cooperation issues between the two countries and his country's wish for the further development of cooperation in the political, economic, trade, military, cultural and education sectors. He also conveyed Uzbekistan's wish to hold an exhibition on Hellenistic Times in Uzbekistan on the occasion of the cultural Olympiad.

On his part, Mr. Magriotis expressed satisfaction concerning cooperation with Uzbekistan and agreed that there is a need for the further development of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. He also briefed the Uzbek diplomat on his intention t o visit his country in the immediate future.

Mr. Magriotis also raised the issue of Greece's bid for UN Security Council membership and the Uzbek diplomat expressed his country's total support.

Also, the two sides agreed that bilateral relations should be upgraded with the opening of a Greek Embassy in the city of Tashkent and the upgrading of Uzbekistan's Consulate to Athens to an Embassy.

Of the stocks trading today, 301 recorded gains and only 37 had losses, while the value of 46 stocks remained unchanged.

Commenting on the statement made by Mr. Papandreou, while addressing his party's candidate parliament deputies, the Greek Communist Party mentioned in a statement that the adoption of February 25 as Olympic Truce Day suggested by Mr. Papandreou shows the

hypocrisy and provocation displayed by himself and his government.

In its statement, the Greek Communist Party stresses that the signing of the truce proposed by Mr. Papandreou, in order to be meaningful, should be accompanied by decisions concerning the shutting down of the Souda Base in Crete and the withdrawal of US and NATO military bases.

Coalition of the Left leader Nikos Konstantopoulos stated that the proposal made by Mr. Papandreou, to be meaningful, should be accompanied by a demand by the government, political parties and candidate parliament deputies calling for the end of the US o ccupation of Iraq.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Mitsotakis stressed characteristically that he has not made any comments on whether he will run in the parliamentary elections. He said that he will announce his decision by the end of the month.