Impasse in Athens

Athenians last week were wondering whether their country had a government or not. The parliamentary session convened by young King Constantine for a vote of confidence in the three-week-old regime of Premier George Athanassiadis-Novas broke up in confusion without even taking a vote.

Success for Novas was doomed even before the session began, thanks to the wiles of Novas' bitter antagonist, ex-Premier George Papandreou. The "Old Fox" had held his own little caucus of Center Union Party Deputies the day before, persuaded 143 of them to vote against Novas when the time came for balloting at the end of the debate. When Parliament convened for the debate, in which Novas had promised to reveal the iniquities of Papandreou's 17 months in office, Papandreou simply ordered his supporters to stay in an anteroom. The infuriated leader of the right-wing Na tional Radical Union, whose 99 Deputies were ready to vote for Novas, an nounced that unless Papandreou sent his men into the chamber his own party would also boycott the debate.

Pandemonium broke loose on the floor as Deputies shouted angrily, and finally, with only 47 Deputies present, Speaker Emmanuel Baklatzis, a Papandreou supporter, declared the session suspended on the grounds that "lack of a quorum constitutes an indication of disapproval of the government."

While hordes of demonstrators disjointedly roamed the streets of Athens, Novas consulted with the King and an nounced that Parliament would attempt to reconvene this week, for "only Parliament's rejection by ballot can dismiss us." But for the moment, at least, it also seemed that sooner or later Parliament would do just that, and young King Constantine would either be forced to recall Papandreou or call the new elections that Papandreou demands.

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