Report: Greek prime minister calls snap election April 11, 2012 -- Updated 1446 GMT (2246 HKT) Prime Minister Lucas Papademos calls a snap election for May 6, state media say He will meet with the Greek president to ask him to dissolve parliament Greece is struggling in the grip of a debt and austerity crisis Athens (CNN) -- Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told the Cabinet on Wednesday that Greece will hold a snap election on May 6, Greek state media reported. He is now expected to meet with President Karolos Papoulias to ask him to dissolve the current parliament. Under the Greek Constitution, there has to be at least a 25-day period between the dissolution of parliament and when elections are held. Greece, which has been run by an interim coalition government since November, is struggling under the weight of painful austerity measures intended to bring down its huge debt. Opinion polls conducted in the past week suggest the New Democracy Party, a partner in the unity government, has a lead of several points over PASOK, the majority party in the coalition. However, neither party has enough support to form a government without entering into a coalition. The country at the center of Europe's debt crisis is battling to stay afloat in the face of an unsustainable level of debt and an economy that has been in recession for years. Under its second bailout program, approved this year, Greece has agreed to implement a series of austerity measures and undertake broader reforms to make its economy more competitive, including pay cuts, layoffs and pension reforms CNN's Elinda Labropoulou contributed to this report.