Greece: Leftist Syriza party to try to form government

In spite of warnings from the EU that Greece must stick to the bailout deal the country seems in no mood to fall in line with those demands. Greece is in its fifth year of recession and the populace is fed up with austerity policies.

Antonis Samaras whose New Democracy party came in first in the polls was unable to cobble together a coalition government. Samaras said:"I did whatever I could to secure a result but it was impossible," Syriza and a small leftist party rejected Samaras' offers. Two other relatively large parties the nationalist Independent Greeks and the Communist Party refused even to meet with Samaras. The PASOK party also could not agree to a coalition.

If no coalition government can be formed new elections could take place as early as June just as Greece has to deal with new austerity measures. In spite of the fact that voters obviously reject the terms of the bailout plan Angela Merkel said:"It is of course of utmost importance that the programmes in Greece continue," The second place Syriza party is attempting to cobble together a government. However any government formed will be opposed to the terms of the austerity plans imposed on Greece by the EU.

The leader of Syriza AlexisTsipras will be given three days to try and form a government. An Al Jazeera reporter said:"There are fewer chances today, I think, of forming consensual government than we had yesterday when the largest party, the Conservatives, was trying its hands at it." Some analysts warned that if no government is formed that supports the austerity measures funds might be cut off and Greece might exit the Euro zone altogether. For more see this article and also this article.