Greek MPs’ second failure to elect head of state brings snap election closer

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/greek-mps-failure-elect-head-state-snap-election-closer

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Greece has come a step closer to a snap general election that could plunge the eurozone into renewed crisis after Athens’ parliament failed for a second time on Tuesday to elect a new head of state.

With a cliffhanger third and final vote now due on 29 December, Greece’s beleaguered prime minister, Antonis Samaras, warned MPs of the political tumult that would ensue if they failed then to support the government’s presidential candidate. Early elections could hand power to radical left party Syriza which wants to roll back the austerity the country signed up to in return for its €240bn international bailout.

“Every deputy will come face to face with the interests of the country,” Samaras told reporters, saying the forthcoming ballot would be a day of reckoning for Greek parliamentarians. “Everyone will assume their responsibility, the responsibility for the consequences their vote will have on stability and the country’s future.”

Stavros Dimas, the former European commissioner nominated for the post, did substantially better than in a first round of voting last week but with only 168 MPs backing his candidacy on Tuesday fell far short of the 200 votes needed to be elected. Votes against the septuagenarian totalled 131 with one MP failing to attend.

Under Greek law a candidate must win 180 votes in a third round, or national elections are automatically called.

With Athens in tortuous negotiations with the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – the creditors that have kept the nation afloat since it came within a whisker of default in late 2009 – the prospect of snap polls has revived fears of financial upheaval in the country that triggered the euro crisis.

Opinion polls have repeatedly shown that Syriza would win a general election. The leftists have threatened to annul the accords Athens has signed with lenders, arguing that the terms agreed in exchange for bailout funds have only worsened Greece’s plight.

Speaking after the vote, Syriza’s leader, Alexis Tsipras, said a vote in favour of Dimas – the only candidate to be put forward for the largely ceremonial role – would be the equivalent of endorsing the punishing policies of austerity.

“Neither parliament nor the Greek people will give Mr Samaras the mandate to continue the memorandums and the demands of austerity,” he said. “With the new year our country will turn a page.”

The spectre of Syriza assuming office – and possibly spreading its anti-austerity message across Europe – has unnerved markets and Brussels.

The ruling coalition, dominated by Samaras’s conservative New Democracy party, faces an uphill struggle to win the 12 extra votes needed to reach the threshold. But the two-party alliance’s improved performance on Tuesday gave the government grounds for hope.

Eight extra MPs – mostly independents who have broken ranks over the demands for belt-tightening that sent Greece into an economic nosedive – backed Dimas on Tuesday. Two were former representatives of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.

“I would not say that the election of a president of the republic is a certainty, but today the chances of the right thing happening increased greatly,” said deputy premier Evangelos Venizelos, who heads the coalition’s junior partner, the centre-left Pasok party.

“A very important step in the direction of consensus … was taken. People want stability, they do not want elections, they want us to protect their toils and successes,” he added, referring to the sacrifices Greeks have made in the form of cuts and higher taxes to satisfy creditors’ demands.

In a surprise move on Sunday the Greek prime minister had held out the possibility of elections in late 2015 – well before his term ends in mid-2016 – in a last-ditch effort to garner support for Dimas. He also proposed expanding his government to include MPs from other pro-Europe parties if the president was elected. The concessions were directly linked to independent MPs changing course.

On Tuesday Venizelos hinted at further compromises. A period of intense politicking is now expected over Christmas as the government tries to bring dissenters on board. “There is incredible movement across parties, a lot of reaching out. We are showing and telling them that we are willing to collaborate,” one insider told the Guardian. “Even our critics want us to win because the vast majority of Greeks do not want elections.”

Small opposition parties could hold the key to unlocking the magic number of votes. Two MPs from the small Democratic Left party – until last year a partner in the government - announced they were leaving the organisation to sit as independents minutes before the ballot.

Deputies with the anti-bailout Independent Greeks party, Anel, are also believed to be wavering despite the party’s declared intention not to support Dimas. “I see there are a lot of MPs who really don’t want elections,” said political science professor Ilias Nikolacopoulos, a leading pollster with ties to the left. “We were always going to get to this point. We will see others making last minute turn arounds. Everything will be played and decided between now and the next vote.”