Greek voters will soon know whether 2015 will begin with a general election and dramatic political developments.
Today at midday MPs will cast their votes in the third and final round of voting to elect a new president of the republic. If a supermajority of 180 MPs is not found to support the government’s presidential candidate, Stavros Dimas, parliament will be dissolved and snap elections will be held after 30 days.
With the completion of Greece’s bailout program still pending and the leftist anti-memorandum party SYRIZA still leading in the polls (although by a reduced margin from several weeks ago), the stakes could not be higher.
While most observers believe that it is highly unlikely that a new president will be elected, the government is still hoping for an 11th hour miracle.
In the first round of voting 160 MPs supported the government's candidate. In the second round 168 MPs did so, leaving the government with a gap of 12 to make up. However many believe that a ceiling has already been reached.
Regardless of the result, the Prime Minister has called for a cabinet meeting to be held following the vote.
We will be providing minute by minute updates of all the key developments:
13.18 Antonis Samaras has just made televised comments, saying that his government did all it could to elect a new president and avoid 'dangerous elections' which the majority of Greek people don't want. Unfortunately, he said, a 'minority of 132 MPs' in which SYRIZA and Golden Dawn voted together sent the country to early elections. This is a development that Greek society didn't want. Now, Samaras said, that which parliament didn't do, the Greek people must do. To keep Greece on the 'steady course of reform' and see Greece finally exit from the Memorandum. 'The Greek people will not allow its sacrifices to go in vain' the PM stated. 'We will not allow anyone to call Greece's place in Europe into question.' This will be the most crucial election in decades, Samaras maintained as 'it is very easy for Greece to sink back into crisis.
The Prime Minister also said that he will go to the president of the republic tomorrow and ask for parliament to be dissolved. That means snap elections will be held on January the 25th.
13.00 In remarks Alexis Tsipras has called it a 'historic day' saying that parliament avoided being blackmailed and listened to the will of the people. In a few days, he says austerity, memoranda 'will be history'. The future has already begun and Greeks should be optimistic.
12.59 Earlier we wrote that of the Golden Dawn MPs in parliament, "Few surprises are expected from them (they will be voting against the presidential candidate) although a violent outburst is always a possibility." They have confirmed both predictions, engaging in shouty and violent behaviour (yet again) in parliament. One hopes for the last time.
12.53 We are now officially in a pre-election period. There will certainly be fireworks and drama but the basic lines along which the election will be fought have been drawn for weeks now:
New Democracy and PASOK will argue that SYRIZA is irresponsibly dragging the country back into uncertainty and crisis against the will of the Greek people. SYRIZA will argue that it needs an absolute majority in parliament to end austerity, renegotiating with the country's lenders and achieving a debt write-off.
12.49 - So this means that elections will most likely be held on the 25th of January or 1st of February. Early reports suggest the government will dissolve parliament sooner rather than later (it has to happen within ten days maximum).
12.41 - As the parliamentary dust settles and at least few MPs start looking around for cardboard boxes, this is the $64,000 question on the minds of many: is this actually part of Samaras's plan?
@marklowen Did it fail, or is Samaras happy for Syriza to come in and mess up spectacularly so he can come back in w actual mandate?
— Megan Greene (@economistmeg) December 29, 2014
12.38 -
Greek stock market extends losses -11%, banks -18.8%, after completion of 3rd fruitless presidential ballot #Greece #economy #markets
— MacroPolis (@MacroPolis_gr) December 29, 2014 12.37 - The vote is completed: The final result is 168 Yes - 132 Present. That means the government didn't get a single additional vote since the second round of voting.
12.34 And now it is officially over: 121 MPs have voted against the government's candidate.
12.30 ELECTIONS IT IS. It's effectively over. There is no way anymore for the numbers to work out in the government's favour. The remaining votes are merely procedural.
12.27
Greek stocks down 10%
— Nikos Chrysoloras (@nchrysoloras) December 29, 2014 12.25 This is now like half-time of a football match with one side up by 5-0. All that is left to see is the nature of the defeat for the government.
12.22 Get your diaries out.
How are you fixed for January 25? February 1 any better? #Greece #elections #PtD
— Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) December 29, 2014 12.20 The chances of Stavros Dimas being elected president have slipped from slim to negligible as a number of possible 'yes' votes have voted present.
12.18
Its almost certain by how voting for #PtD is going up to now that #Greece is heading to elections
— Apostolis Fotiadis (@Balkanizator) December 29, 2014 12.16 Vyronas Polydoras - an independent MP who has said in the past that he would vote for Dimas if he was the 180th and deciding vote has voted 'present'.
12.14 The imprisoned members of Golden Dawn are also present in parliament for the vote. Few surprises are expected from them (they will be voting against the presidential candidate) although a violent outburst is always a possibility.
12.11 And so it begins... Voting in parliament starts with Dora Bakoyianni of ND voting 'Stavros Dimas'.
12.10 Alexis Tsipras arriving in parliament following a meeting of his top deputies says that, “It will be a good year.”
12.05 Parliament has fallen behind schedule. The vote was scheduled to begin at 12.00 but has yet to get underway.
12.00 Antonis Samaras has arrived in parliament
11.53 Opinion is as divided on Twitter as it is in Greece about whether general elections will be utterly disastrous, or a positive for Greece.
Some see doom and gloom:
#Greece will fall to chaos after new elections when #Syriza wins it. @EfiEfthimiou
— Martti Kyllönen (@martkyll) December 29, 2014 While for others it is European austerity that is the real threat.
Watch the #Greece doom tweets coming in the next hours by people who have said nothing about the humanitarian crisis caused by EU policy.
— Zoe Mavroudi (@zoemavroudi) December 29, 2014
11.49 - The markets are unsurprisingly jittery
Greek stocks slide ahead of key vote http://t.co/gZ0EMDqrs7 #Greece #election
— CNBCWorld (@CNBCWorld) December 29, 2014 11.44 Here's a clear graph from Macropolis.gr about how the numbers break down in parliament:
Final presidential vote likely to pave way for snap elections in Greece http://t.co/0baJxmJTMz #Greece #politics pic.twitter.com/8D70eKxkGI
— MacroPolis (@MacroPolis_gr) December 29, 2014 According to this electing a new president is effectively impossible. If 121 or more MPs vote present or fail to show then it's early elections for Greece.
Οι πιο πρόσφατες Ειδήσεις
Διαβάστε πρώτοι τις Ειδήσεις για ό,τι συμβαίνει τώρα στην Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο στο thetoc.gr
