Costas Karamanlis, seeking a fresh mandate as prime minister in the October 4 snap parliamentary elections that he has called in Greece, is certain to be mindful that it was his promises on economic policy – including a pledge to reduce unemployment – that secured his narrow victory over socialist party Pasok in 2004 and 2007.

With the economy the main issue in the 2009 snap polls, Greek voters are equally likely to be mindful of what Karamanlis promised, against the reality of their lives today.

Like leaders worldwide, Karamanlis has had to come up with rapid responses to the economic crisis. Specifically in the case of Greece, the crisis has seen the country’s economy do a volte-face from prolonged growth to shrinkage, a problem compounded by Greece’s debt, which is the second-biggest as a percentage of GDP in the European Union.

It was in a very different context that Karamanlis managed to halve Greece’s budget deficit between 2004 and 2006. He is in no position to offer the same solutions.

The first days after Karamanlis announced the ahead-of-term election, the battle began between Karamanlis and Pasok leader George Papandreou over who would helm the country’s further responses to the economic crisis.

Even though Pasok leads in the polls, by a margin indicated by opinion polls as six points and growing, there is no certainty that this necessarily would translate into Papandreou being able to form a government, at least not without forging a post-election governing coalition against Karamanlis’s New Democracy that would have to take in some awkward partners.

Speaking on September 6 at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair, Karamanlis said that he would follow up an election victory on October 4 by freezing public sector pay and employee complements and continue his past practice of selling off state-owned assets to deal with the mounting debt problem.

"Our nation is at a critical crossroad and must introduce structural reform," Karamanlis told a news conference at the Thessaloniki event.

He also vowed to put tax evaders under much closer scrutiny.

As with the freezes on public sector pay and staff numbers and a continuation of privatisations, Karamanlis is offering a continuity in policies and actions that have been pursued in recent years by his conservative government. Steps taken so far, such as cutting taxes and the decision to go ahead with the sale of troubled Olympic Airlines, already have been deeply unpopular in some quarters and, so opinion polls indicate, have done little or nothing to allay Greeks’ worries about their jobs.

Describing himself as unrepentant about the steps already taken by his government, Karamanlis set his cap against anyone who would want to oppose further reforms under the aegis of a New Democracy government with a renewed mandate. "These measures will be implemented, no matter how many groups oppose them," Karamanlis said.

Papandreou, a former foreign and education minister who made progress on some key foreign policy issues when Pasok was in government and who like Karamanlis is a scion of a prominent Greek political dynasty, said in a Greek press article that a new Pasok government would work to create employment and help low- and medium-income earners. While not long on specifics about his formula to rescue the economy, Papandreou offered a notably consultative approach, in effect offering a way "out of the quagmire with a collective effort that will unite all the creative forces of the country".

Given the sheer scale of the problems faced by Greece, there was need for consensus and co-operation with wider political and social forces, Papandreou said in an article written for Eleftherotypia newspaper.

Touching on an issue sensitive for the Karamanlis government, Papandreou said that, in power, he would come down hard on corruption.

While a secondary issue, corruption is a theme that has got a lot of bad press for Karamanlis, from the Vatopedi monastery land deal to allegations surrounding the Siemens scandal, among others.

Allegations that in its post-2007 term of office have damaged or destroyed the careers of individuals from New Democracy have laid Karamanlis open to questions about whether he intends returning all or some of the same people allegedly linked to misdoings to parliament. Potential parliamentary candidates would be assessed according to their "overall conduct", Karamanlis said, ahead of his party’s lists being finalised.

With just more than three weeks to go before the snap elections, it is possible that further mass protests may be mobilised against Karamanlis. After the violent protests around New Year, marches by unions protesting against privatisations and protests about supposed failures in dealing with the August 2009 wildfires, labour union GSEE brought out thousands of workers on the first weekend in September to voice their rejection of Karamanlis’s policies on wages and privatisations.

While Papandreou indicated that he wanted a calmly-debate election contest, an "upgraded pre-electoral dialogue process" as he put it, a scenario of unionists seeing a real chance to oust Karamanlis by stepping up the pressure on the streets is far from unlikely.