Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has resigned after being elected to lead the Socialist party PASOK into upcoming early elections.

Venizelos officially replaced former Greek prime minister George Papandreou as head of the PASOK party on Monday.

Greece plans to hold early general elections in late April or early May to replace the interim coalition government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.

Opinion polls show PASOK badly trailing the conservative New Democracy party.

Venizelos played a key role in recent months in negotiating a second bailout for Greece and new economic austerity measures. The government cut wages and pensions, and eliminated thousands of civil service jobs to meet the demands of international lenders.

The $172 billion bailout is the country’s second rescue package in two years.