Greek PM Samaras fails to win support for coalition
Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has failed to drum up enough votes to be able to appoint a new president in the second of three votes, leaving the door open for a potential return to a left-wing government in the new year.
The country's parliament took part in the second round of three votes to elect a successor to 85 year-old president Karolos Papoulias, with Samaras's candidate, Stavros Dimas, needing 180 votes in order for the coalition to remain in power.
The second round saw 168 votes in favour, up from 160 in the first after Samaras made various tempting offers, including a promise for an earlier election next year, a widening of the ruling New Democracy/Pasok coalition to a pro-European party coalition, including the MPs who agreed to elect the government's candidate as president, and a promise over the implementation of the constitutional reform by the government.
155 coalition MPs and 13 independent MPs voted in favour, 131 MPs abstained and one was absent, all of which was broadly in line with estimates ahead of the vote
If a new president is not elected by the last round on 29 December, as looks increasingly unlikely, this leaves the door open for the Syriza leftwing opposition party to continue to gain momentum to win power in a February general election.
The vote on 29 December will be held 12:00 local time, 10:00 GMT.
"The government is still well short of the 180 ‘yes’ votes it needs to push through its candidate in the third and final round on 29 December," noted Gizem Kara, senior European economist at BNP Paribas.
"Although pressure within the country is likely to intensify until then, hopes for the government to win sufficient support has waned. If the final vote fails to produce a head of state, parliament will be dissolved and a general election called within a month, reportedly on 25 January or 1 February.
"According to recent opinion polls, no party would win an outright majority. If so, a Syriza-led coalition would probably be the outcome."