Greek Prime Minister Calls MPs to Reach a Consensus

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held a press conference on Saturday, December 27, in light of the Presidential election’s third voting round. Samaras urged MPs to come to a consensus and elect a President in order to avoid national elections.
The third round of voting is set to take place on Monday at noon and the coalition government has only managed to secure 174-175 votes for their candidate Stavros Dimas. In order for a new President to be elected, the candidate must be voted by 2/3 of the current Parliament (180 votes).
“The Greek people do not want snap elections. I have done and I am doing everything to ensure a President is elected and snap elections are averted,” said Samaras, who believes that national elections are against the interest of Greek people.
He invited Parliament parties to cooperate in order to reach an agreement and avoid national elections at this point, suggesting that elections should be held at the end of next year.
However, he also expressed his confidence, saying that, in any case, his center-right party New Democracy would win the elections. “Even though elections would be convenient for me, I want to see the ship safely into port,” he said.

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