A week
after elections in Greece restructured the political pecking order in the
country, President Papoulias was unable to make any progress on Sunday in
steering the top three elected parties toward a coalition.
Papoulias
is now meeting individually with the leaders of the remaining four parties in
Athens that gained representation in last week's election. That includes the
neo-nazi Golden Dawn party, as well as the Independent Greeks, the Democratic
Left, and the Communist party.
Earlier in
the week, the top three parties in the election were each given a chance to
form a coalition on their own. The New Democracy party, which won the polls and
is led by Antonis Samaras, could not complete the task, nor could the next two
parties in line: the radical left Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras, and the
socialist PASOK led by Evangelos Venizelos.
Syriza was
catapulted into second position in last Sunday's election, after decades of
dominance from New Democracy and PASOK - both of whom sustained heavy losses.
The two traditional parties are in favor of largely sticking to the terms of
the Greek loans from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund,
or seeking to renegotiate them in Brussels. Syriza, meanwhile, rejects them
outright, saying that last Sunday's ballot showed the Greek people do too.
Even with
Papoulias acting as a mediator in midday meetings on Sunday, the three parties
did not reach a consensus. A second meeting between the leaders of the top
three parties and Papoulias is scheduled for Monday.
Should
Papoulias' efforts also fail, another election is the only remaining option
under the Greek system - it would most likely be held June 10 or June 17.
Theoretically, Papoulias' efforts could last until Thursday, May 17, the
scheduled date for the opening of the new Greek parliament.
Syriza
leader Tsipras said on Sunday he would not "join or support" a
government that traded international bailouts for domestic austerity measures.
Despite the
massive losses suffered by established political parties at the polls, a Kappa
research poll published in the weekly To Vima newspaper ahead of the talks,
said that over 70 percent of those surveyed were "desperate for a
coalition government that will safeguard eurozone membership."
Greece is
headed for its fifth straight year of recession, with the EU Commission
estimating a 4.7 percent economic contraction in 2012.
msh,mz/jlw (AFP, dpa, AP)
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