ATHENS (AP) -- Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is to submit his resignation Monday after being elected to head the majority Socialist party as Greece heads into early general elections.
Venizelos was the only candidate for the leadership of the PASOK party in Sunday's elections, and is to officially take over from his predecessor, former Prime Minister George Papandreou, later Monday. Days earlier, eurozone countries formally approved Greece's second multibillion euro bailout.
The coalition government has not indicated who will be appointed in Venizelos' place. Early general elections are expected in late April or early May, though no firm date has been set.
PASOK won a landslide victory in 2009 general elections, but party defections and public anger over austerity measures prompted it to form an interim coalition government with the rival conservatives last November.
Recent opinion polls have seen its support sink to as low as 11 percent, taking a hit from widespread public anger over repeated austerity measures which have included salary and pension cuts as well as several rounds of tax hikes.
Unions have held frequent strikes and often violent demonstrations in response. In the latest labor action, dock workers walked off the job Monday at the start of what they have vowed will be rolling 48-hour strikes. Farmers on islands have argued the strike will leave them facing huge losses as they will be unable to transport their produce to the main urban markets on the mainland.
