World : Papandreou Divorce on Fast Track

ATHENS —  Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, whose affair with an airline stewardess has hurt his party in the opinion polls, could marry his girlfriend before next month’s elections, lawyers said today.

Papandreou, 70, filed a new petition for divorce Tuesday and his American wife, Margaret, appeared to agree unconditionally to end their 39-year marriage by mutual consent. “I will bring no obstacles in the divorce. The sooner this case ends the better,” she told reporters after her husband’s petition was filed in an Athens court.

Lawyers said that if Mrs. Papandreou, who has made similar statements before, drops her objections the prime minister could marry Dimitra Liani, 34, before elections June 18.