ATHENS, Greece — Political parties made a last-ditch effort to charm swing voters on the final day of campaigning for parliamentary elections Friday and hundreds of thousands of Greeks swarmed to the provinces where they are registered to go to the polls.
Premier Costas Simitis and his governing Socialist party wrapped up the closest election race in a decade with a mass rally in central Athens, ahead of voting on Sunday. The conservative New Democracy party held a similar gathering here Thursday.
"These are the first elections of the 21st century. They are significant and the confrontation is crucial," Simitis told tens of thousands of supporters.
In a speech peppered with long-unused Socialist rhetoric, Simitis warned a conservative win would bring forth a "neo-liberal hurricane," destroying many of the government's welfare policies.
"They don't want the social state, they want privatizations, they want the merciless laws of the market," he told the cheering crowd.
No campaigning is permitted on Saturday, allowing Greece's nearly 9 million registered voters a day of reflection before deciding which of the 26 political parties they will vote for. Recent polls have showed the Socialists and conservatives in a statistical tie for the lead.
Although a majority of Greeks live in urban centers — nearly half of the country's 10.2 million people live in Athens— many retain their voter registration in their hometowns in the countryside. Employers are obliged to give people a day off work if they vote in the provinces, and many people use elections as an opportunity to visit family and friends.
The Socialists have slowly drifted to the center and become more fiscally conservative. They fear New Democracy has made substantial inroads among traditional support groups such as farmers, who make up 20 percent of Greece's population.
In Friday campaigning, both parties targeted smaller parties and disgruntled groups such as the farmers. Both renewed pledges to sink large amounts of money into the provinces and agricultural areas. They have also vowed to fight a stubborn 11 percent unemployment rate.
"We aim to increase the incomes of farmers, who have suffered greatly in recent years," New Democracy leader Costas Caramanlis said Friday.