Athens, Thursday

FORMER Greek Prime Minister and Socialist Party founder Andreas Papandreou defied all odds today, leaving hospital after a four-month stay during which he hovered near death and was forced to resign from office.

Feeble but smiling, he walked down a hospital corridor with his wife Dimitra Liani and with great difficulty told reporters: ``With love, I leave this.......''

He was unable to say anything more. Liani smiled broadly and said he was unable to speak at length because he was so emotional at being able to leave after his 123-day ordeal.

Papandreou, 77, was rushed to hospital with pneumonia on November 20 and was near death a number of times. His lungs and kidneys failed and in January he handed over power to socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

Television had live coverage of the departure from hospital of Greece's first socialist premier, who won three elections during his often stormy career.

Boisterous supporters swamped the car ferrying Papandreou home, cheering and throwing cascades of flowers. They held aloft giant flags and posters of Papandreou, who set up Greece's first welfare state and is nearly worshipped by many supporters.

He waved feebly from the rear seat, where he leaned back expressionless. He held in one hand the life-support tubes which still protrude from his body and will be hooked into machines at his home.

Doctors said that a respirator, and dialysis machine for his kidneys, had been installed at his home. He will undergo dialysis three times a week.

Liani, 40, and his personal doctor, former health minister Dimitris Kremastinos, were in the car. His motorcade headed directly to his home in the northern Athens suburb of Ekali.

Top socialist ministers turned out in force. They included Defence Minister Gerassimos Arsenis, Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis, and Interior Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

Simitis, elected by the socialist parliamentary group to replace Papandreou, was absent. He was on a trip to Italy.

Papandreou was one of the country's most controversial and popular politicians this century.

Part of the controversy concerns Dimitra, 40, his second wife, a former Olympic Airways stewardess. She wife remained at his side since he went to hospital and both disappeared from the public eye.

Mrs Papandreou, had indicated last year that she was interested in running for political office in her own right. With Papandreou no longer premier it was not clear whether she would still pursue this aim.

The Harvard-educated economist abandoned a successful career in California, gave up his US citizenship and returned home in 1959 to take up politics at 40. He was helped by his father, who was soon to be elected prime minister.

He came into his own in 1974 after the fall of a military junta, founding the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) and ruling it with an iron fist until struck down with pneumonia last year.

He was elected prime minister three times during his stormy political career. Restoring the left to mainstream politics for the first time since the Second World War.

However he infuriated his Nato, European Union, and US partners with sudden policy reversals, maverick stands, and embrace of Third World radical regimes.

He also drove the Greek economy into the ground, setting up a sprawling welfare state, built largely on debt, and wooing working-class votes with big handouts.

It remains to be seen whether Papandreou will have the strength or inclination to get involved in politics again to influence the direction of Pasok, of which he is president.

His closest supporters, Arsenis and Tsohatzopoulos, lost out in the election of his successor in January and there have been increasing signs of deep divisions within the socialist party.-Reuter/AP.