No. 3

For the third time in nine weeks, King Constantine named a new Premier to replace ousted George Papandreou. This time it almost looked as though his man could muster enough votes to stay in office. Or almost enough. The man was Stephan Stephanopoulos, 66, like his two predecessors a renegade from George Papandreou's Center Union Party, and, in fact, former Deputy Premier in Papandreou's own Cabinet. Forming a "symbolic coalition" Cabinet of "national emergency," Stephanopoulos claimed the backing of 150 out of 300 Deputies in Parliament--and predicted that before a vote of confidence is taken this week, "two more traitors will join the Cabinet, bringing my total support to 152."

Would the King's new choice be any more successful than his others? Not if the royal nemesis could do anything to foil him. Calling for a gigantic convocation of his demonstration-happy followers in Salonika, canny old George Papandreou declaimed: "Governments and Parliaments must reflect the will of the people, and neither this government nor Parliament does that. But the people's will shall win, and the people will wipe this government out of existence." In downtown Athens, 10,000 left-wing union members rallied at a theater and demanded Papandreou's return or immediate elections.

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