This follows the poor showing in Sunday’s parliamentary elections by pro-austerity parties.
The fallout from last Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Greece is now clear after the governing pro-austerity parties failed to form another coalition government, the BBC said. The leader of the far-left, Alexis Tsipras is therefore seeking to put together a cabinet that will reject austerity measures imposed as a result of the bailout deal; though it remains to be seen if he will succeed.
President Karolos Papoulias was yesterday May 8, 2012 expected to officially ask Tsipras who heads the Syriza group to negotiate a coalition deal within three days. New Democracy leader, Antonis Samaris, whose party topped the poll, tried and failed to put together a coalition on Monday May 7. His party beat Syriza by a slim margin, but under Greek rules, it has a 50-seat bonus in Parliament for coming first.
The 38-year-old Syriza leader has already promised to put together a left-wing cabinet to reject what he described as barbaric measures associated with the bailout deal. He vowed to exhaust all possibilities to reach an understanding, especially with the forces of the left. But analysts also say his attempts are unlikely to secure the necessary numbers.
According to the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, investors have been particularly shaken by last Sunday’s election in Greece that resulted in a split parliament with no party likely to be able to form a government. The two parties that governed as a coalition for the past six months did not do as well as the more extreme parties of the right and left. The socialist Pasok party suffered the biggest retreat with its share of the vote dropping from about 43 per cent in 2009 to a little over 13 per cent.
A period of uncertainty now looms for the bailed-out country which is in its fifth year of recession and has over half its youth out of work following big spending cuts and tax increases in return for crucial international bailout funds. If no government is formed that can command a majority in Parliament, another general election within the next two months seems possible.
