GREECE's ruling socialists face a leadership battle that is threatening to tear apart their party after the Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, vowed to resign if he was not elected party president this weekend.
Mr Simitis (60) issued an ultimatum to the 5,000 delegates at the congress of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), saying he needed to be in charge of both the government and his party to bring about his planned reforms.
Mr Simitis succeeded his ailing mentor, Pasok's founder, Mr Andreas Papandreou, as prime minister in January, after a close vote by the party's parliamentary group. In the vote, he defeated the Interior Minister, Mr Akis Tsohatzopoulos, a Papandreou confidant.
Mr Papandreou's death after a heart attack last Sunday has left bewildered the party he founded in 1974 and brought to power three times since 1981. Although he had resigned from the government, he kept the post of Pasok president.
A moderate reformer, Mr Simitis is certain to clash with Mr Tsohatzopoulos, a trusted Papandreou lieutenant.
Pasok sources said Mr Tsohatzopoulos had reached an agreement with the Defence Minister, Mr Gerassimos Arsenis, who controls a number of delegates, to support him. The deal is that Mr Arsenis could become prime minister if Mr Tsohatzopoulos wins the party presidency.