Greek voters were glued to television screens for a second night in a row on Tuesday, watching two main candidates for premiership comparing their visions for a better future for the country in their last televised debate before the Oct. 4 elections.

Senior political analysts in the Greek capital saw no knockouts in the 90-minute encounter between incumbent Prime Minister KostasKaramanlis and the main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou that was shown on national television.

As Giannis Tassiopoulos from the Metro daily commented, the test was more difficult for Karamanlis because after five years in power he has a lot more of explaining to do in comparison to the head of PASOK, who on the other hand, as most analysts agree, lacks the conservative's leader charisma in communication.

They both escaped major hits that could lead to a "Waterloo" and failed to reach a goal that could win crucial votes either.

The Greek prime minister blamed the socialists of PASOK for "the huge national debt" his ruling New Democracy party (ND) inherited.

Saying his party is ready to make the "difficult but necessary" decisions that could lift the country out of the economic crisis, he accused Papandreou, the former foreign minister, of "vagueness and unreliability" regarding the latter's proposals on the economy and the national issues.

In response, Papandreou accused ND of trying to blame others for its own mistakes and paint a "misleading" picture of the economy.

"It is the international organizations like OSCE -and not PASOK- that have criticized our country for the widespread public sector corruption," Papandreou said, accusing the incumbent prime minister of not having done enough to fight favoritism and prevent scandals. PASOK's first goal if elected to government would be to "rekindle" the economy in 100 days, he added.

On foreign policy, Karamanlis said his government would not change its positions on the name dispute with Macedonia, while Papandreou noted that the priority remains the issue of continued Turkish violations of Greek airspace.

With all of the latest opinion polls pointing to a clear victory for the main opposition PASOK over ND, a party official proposed a third TV debate among the two protagonists, but PASOK responded that there is not enough time left before the elections.

In Monday's first televised debate on national television, apart from Karamanlis and Papandreou, also present were the leaders of the other four political parties that are represented in the national parliament and the European Parliament.

Source: Xinhua