GREEK PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS DUE TO ILLNESS.

Byline: The New York Times

Greece's prime minister, Andreas Papandreou, a towering political figure whose two-month hospitalization has paralyzed his government and his ruling Socialist party, resigned Monday night.

"It is obvious that the country cannot remain incapacitated by my illness," wrote Papandreou, 76, from his hospital bed at the Onassis Heart Center outside Athens. The letter, the end result of a long struggle to persuade the ailing leader to relinquish his grip on power, was addressed to the Central Committee of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, the party Papandreou founded in 1974 and first led to power in 1981.

His formal resignation clears the way for the party's 170-member parliamentary majority to elect a successor within three days. The behind-the-scenes battle for succession is said to have narrowed to former Industry Minister Costas Simitis and Defense Minister Gerassimos Arsenis.

In his letter, Papandreou states his party should "proceed immediately with the election of a prime minister because the country's problems cannot wait."

Even if, as some expect, the still-ailing Papandreou remains as leader of the party, his resignation signals the end of an era in Greek politics. A former American citizen who spent 20 years in the United States, Papandreou was a compelling, if often self-contradictory maverick.