Greece MPs to try for a third time to elect a president
If third and final effort fails to elect a new leader, early elections will have to be held
Lawmakers in debt-laden Greece will today try for a third and final time to elect a new president and avoid a snap general election that could undermine the country's international bailout.
The definitive round of voting to choose a successor to President Karolos Papoulias comes during last-ditch efforts by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to get the government's candidate elected and avert early polls.
"The Greek people don't want early elections. The Greek people understand where this adventure could lead," Samaras said late on Saturday in an interview on Nerit public television.
The government's candidate, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, fell 32 votes short of the required 200 in the second round held on Tuesday. Today's final vote will see the target fall to 180 votes, but even this seems a tall order. Most newspapers predict that the government will face a tough time getting its candidate elected.
If no president is chosen, a general election will automatically be triggered.
European Union and International Monetary Fund officials fear an early poll would be won by the anti-austerity, radical leftist Syriza party and could undo many of Greece's ongoing fiscal reforms. Recent opinion polls show Samaras' ruling coalition trailing Syriza, which wants to renegotiate the conditions of the bailout and roll back unpopular austerity measures imposed by the creditors.