Evangelos Venizelos, the Greek Socialist party leader, has been unable to form a national unity government after holding last-ditch talks with rivals, party officials have said.
“Venizelos will return the mandate tomorrow to President Karolos Papoulias,” a senior Socialist PASOK party official told Reuters news agency.
Separately, Papoulias’s office said he would meet Venizelos on Saturday on 10:00 GMT.
Earlier in the day, Venizelos held talks with centre-right New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras and other political leaders in a bid to form a coalition.
The leader of anti-bailout Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party said he would not join a national unity government with the Socialist leader.
“It is not the Left Coalition that has refused this proposal, but the Greek people who did so with their vote on Sunday,” Alexis Tsipras said after talks with Venizelos.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
