GREEK government faced mounting criticism of incompetence yesterday as villagers fled fierce forest fires that have killed 63 people.

The opposition Socialist PASOK party seized on the fires three weeks before a parliamentary election, pouring scorn on the government’s efforts and saying accusations of arson were an excuse for its weakness in responding to the crisis.

The government has stuck by its plan to hold an early parliamentary election Sept. 16. An opinion poll said the ruling conservatives’ lead over the socialists had slipped due, in part, to their handling of the crisis.

The poll, conducted by ALCO polling agency, showed the New Democracy party’s lead over PASOK had narrowed to 0.8 from 1.3 percentage points in a previous poll.

Exhausted firefighters, now boosted by foreign help, have been trying to douse the fires for more than four days.

“All of us Greeks must stay united ... As in our past, we must prove that we are one soul, one fist in a national crisis,” Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said.

The government offered rewards of up to 1 million euros (US$1.4 million) for help in tracking down arsonists and asked a public prosecutor to see if they can be prosecuted as terrorists.(SD-Agencies)