(Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras made his strongest call yet to the main opposition Syriza party to cooperate in electing a new president in a bid to avert snap elections and a “devastating” period of political instability.
In an article in Sunday’s edition of the Ethnos newspaper, Samaras warned that failure to elect a president early next year could lead to a prolonged period without a government. Samaras needs opposition support to survive the vote.
“They (Syriza) shouldn’t drag the country to early elections due to the presidential vote, leading to instability, now that we are close to finally exiting the crisis,” he said, referring to the country’s six-year debt crisis.
“If they want to coordinate and see how we can elect a president together, then national coordination is feasible”.
Samaras’s appeal comes as the government faces a looming political crisis. Plans to exit an unpopular EU/IMF bailout by the end of the year appear in jeopardy with Athens struggling to wrap up its final bailout review.
“The political agreement over the post-bailout era must be concluded definitely in December. We’re working feverishly for that,” Samaras said.
Talks with lenders were tough, he said and promised that Greece would stay on the path of reforms.
In an interview with Kathimerini, Greek central banker Yannis Stournaras said that Athens and its international lenders must show flexibility to reach an agreement “immediately”.
“It’s in the interest of both the Greek side and the troika to reach a compromise immediately,” said Stournaras, the former finance minister, adding that Greece should get extra debt relief as a “reward” after a long and painful fiscal adjustment.
After nearly five years tied to EU/IMF aid that has come at the price of painful and unpopular cutbacks, Greece is slowly emerging from a crippling recession and ended a four-year exile from debt markets in April.
Investors, however, have punished Greek bonds recently over fears of a possible snap election with no outright winner.
The ruling coalition’s candidate needs to get the support of 180 lawmakers. The government controls 155 MPs in the 300-seat parliament.
Syriza, which is leading in polls, has promised to block the government’s candidate the presidential vote, saying that an early election is the only way out for the Greek people, who have been hurt by austerity.