Attempt to form Greek coalition government fails again

According to this article the third attempt to form a coalition government has failed. The PASOK socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos was able to bring the major New Democracy party into his coalition and at first it seemed that he had also the agreement of the Democratic Left a smaller party to join in the coalition.

However, the Demiocratic Left insisted that the 2nd place leftist Styriza party also be part of the coalition. Stryiza is strongly against the austerity plans and refuses to be part of any pro-bailout coalition.

Venizelos will speak to the president tomorrow:"I will brief tomorrow the president of the republic. I hope that during the phase of talks with the president, everyone will think more maturely and more responsibly," The deal with the Democratic Left would have given the coalition 168 seats in the 300 seat parliament. However if any one of the three were to vote against a measure along with the opposition a bill would fail.

Assuming there is no last minute agreement to form another coalition when Venizelos reports to the president, the president himself will try one last time to form a emergency salvation government by summoning all leaders. If that move fails then the president could call new elections as early as Sunday or Monday.

Styriza probably has little interest in forming a coalition. Opinion polls show that if new elections are held that its vote would go from 16.8 per cent to almost 28 per cent and win about 128 seats. The first place finisher gets 50 extra seats and this would give Sytriza enough seats to rule on its own. If that happens goodbye bailout deal. For more see this article or here.