Greece moves towards new vote, hard left leads

Left Coalition Syriza Party Leader Alexis Tsiparis

Reuters: 

Greece's president summoned party leaders on Saturday for one final attempt to avert new elections, but the effort looked doomed to fail after politicians deeply divided over austerity plans said they would stick to their guns.

Greece's political landscape is in disarray a week after an election left parliament almost equally divided between parties backing and opposing an EU/IMF bailout that keeps Athens afloat in return for pledges of deep spending cuts and tax hikes.

If President Karolos Papoulias fails in a final attempt to persuade leaders to form a coalition, he will have to call a new vote in June. Opinion polls predict the balance of power would tip decisively towards the bailout's radical leftist opponents, potentially jeopardizing Greece's membership in the euro zone.

Without a government to negotiate a new aid tranche from the EU and IMF, Greece risks bankruptcy in weeks and - as European leaders now openly acknowledge - potential ejection from the common currency.

"There is no change (to our position)," said Panos Skourletis, a spokesman for the anti-bailout Left Coalition SYRIZA party, which placed second on Sunday and has since seen its popularity increase as anti-bailout voters rally around its charismatic 37-year-old leader, Alexis Tsipras.

"It is obvious that there is an effort to bring about a government that will implement the bailout. We are not participating in such a government," Skourletis told Reuters.

Tsipras has the most to gain from a new vote. If, as polls predict, SYRIZA overtakes the conservatives to place first, it would be awarded an extra 50 seats in the 300-seat house, making the former student activist - little known outside Greece just weeks ago - into the country's pre-eminent politician.

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