RLINGMAJOITY ACK TO ONE-VOTE MARGIN

UNCLAS ATHENS 001536 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O.1295: NA TGS: GOV, PREL, GR SUBJECT: RLINGMAJOITY ACK TO ONE-VOTE MARGIN REF: ATHENS 1408 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED Q PROTECT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (SBU) The parliamentary majority of Prime Minister Karamanlis' New Democracy (ND) ruling party has again shrunk to a single vote (151 seats in a 300-seat Parliament) following the Prime Minister's November 10 decision to expel Petros Tatoulis, ND's best known and most vocal maverick MP, from the party and the party's parliamentary caucus. Tatoulis is expected to remain in Parliament as an independent. ¶2. (SBU) Tatoulis, a former deputy Culture minister, has been widely considered a thorn in the Government's side with frequent public criticism of the government and Karamanlis. The proximate cause of his dismissal from the party was a November 10 interview in the daily "Ethnos," in which Tatoulis criticized the level of corruption in the current government and Karamanlis' failure to address it. Tatoulis said the PM, "... is in danger of being identified with the bad choices of some of his cadres -- because of the identification of his name with the party." Tatoulis added, "Nobody can claim any longer he (Karamanlis) does not know (of the alleged scandals),that he has not heard, that he has not seen. In any case... tradition has it that a princess kept prisoner commits suicide in order to escape the captivity imposed on her by others. In our case, this time has not yet arrived." ¶3. (SBU) Comment: We do not expect Tatoulis' departure to have a major effect on the government's ability to achieve its objectives in Parliament. This is the third case in the past year in which the ruling party's majority has slipped from two votes to one (the other two MPs removed from the ND party caucus have been reinstated - reftel). As in the other cases, Tatoulis is expected to continue to vote with the ruling party. However, his expulsion from the party is an additional reminder of Karamanlis' limited room for maneuver. Tatoulis is not the only ND MP who has expressed reservations about the government's course, and PM Karamanlis will continue to devote substantial time and energy to maintaining party discipline, particularly in the face of continued polling data showing his ruling party behind major opposition party PASOK. It could also affect the GOG's room for maneuver on key international issues that attract public attention, such as the Macedonia name issue. End Comment. SPECKHARD