Roundup: Greek conservatives get mandate to form gov't, ruling Syriza party splits
Xinhua, August 21, 2015 Adjust font size:
Greece's main opposition conservative New Democracy (ND) party leader Evangelos Meimarakis on Friday received the mandate to form a government from Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, following the resignation of the Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his ruling coalition on Thursday evening.
Addressing the nation on Thursday, the outgoing Premier asked Greek people to hand him a fresh clear mandate in snap general elections that should be held as soon as possible in order to implement the new third bailout and lead the country out of the debt crisis.
On Friday, Tsipras' ruling Syriza party formally split, as 25 members of parliament (MPs) out of 149 Syriza deputies turned independent and formed a new parliamentary group named Popular Unity under former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
Lafazanis, who was replaced in the July cabinet reshuffle after voting against the agreement Tsipras signed with Greece's international creditors, leads the defecting MPs who denounce the government's U-turn on initial pledges to tear up bailouts and put an end to austerity policies.
The Popular Unity now outnumbers the third elected party in the parliament and, according to the Greek Constitution, should now receive the third mandate to form government if Meimarakis' efforts end fruitless over the next three days.
The conservative leader of the New Democracy party has made clear he does not intend to facilitate Tsipras in his attempt to have a short pre-election campaign. According to sources, the outgoing Premier would prefer Sept. 20 as the ballot day.
"I believe we must exhaust all possibilities before resorting to elections, which in my view at this moment do not serve the country's interests," Meimarakis told Pavlopoulos on Friday.
Exiting the presidential mansion, he added that a third electoral battle in a year (after the Jan. 25 general elections and the July referendum on the creditors' bailout draft proposal) would prolong uncertainty and further harm the prospects of the ailing economy.
The conservative leader said he was willing to discuss the formation of a government even with another Syriza party figure than Tsipras as Prime Minister. He referred to the Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragassakis as a credible choice.
Political analysts in Athens expressed doubts whether Meimarakis' or Lafazanis' attempts will end conclusively, seeing the early elections as rather inevitable.
In addition, some media commentators argued that the elections may prove a positive step to clear the political landscape and lead to a new, more stable, coalition government that will meet Greece's bailout commitments without further turmoil.
For the time being, the country is stuck in the mandates process which is expected to be stormy. Under the Greek Constitution, should a government resign, the President must hand an exploratory mandate to each of the leaders of the three largest parties represented in parliament to try to form a government from the current parliament. Each mandate lasts three days.
Tsipras announced Thursday that he would not use his mandate and asked the President instead to initiate procedures for the immediate formation of a caretaker government, led by the head of the Supreme Court, to take the country to elections.
Should all efforts to form a new government from the current parliament fail, the President calls early elections that should be conducted within a month and appoints a caretaker government. In this case, Vassiliki Thanou, the current head of the Supreme Court, would become Greece's first female Prime Minister. Endit