–Says If Far-Left Syriza Does Not Participate, Must Hold New Election

ATHENS (MNI) – The leader of Greece’s moderate left-wing party has
dampened hopes for the formation of a coalition government, saying he
would not participate in such an effort if the far-left Syriza party is
not part of it.

Fotis Kouvelis, who heads the moderate Democratic Left, said
moments ago that without Syriza’s participation there could be no new
coalition government and the only solution in that case would be new
parliamentary elections.

Kouvelis’ comment is significant, because he was widely mentioned
as recently as this morning as the possible prime minister in a
coalition government that would include the conservative New Democracy
party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and his own Democratic
Left.

Together, those three parties would have a comfortable majority of
168 seats in the country’s 300-seat parliament. That would theoretically
allow them to govern, despite the strong position of Syriza, which won
the second largest number of seats — after New Democracy — in last
Sunday’s election and is now surging in the opinion polls.

But such a coalition would be problematic, since Democratic Left
has steadfastly opposed the austerity measures being imposed on Greece
as a condition of aid, while PASOK was largely responsible for
implementing them and New Democracy also went along with them in the
coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Lucas Papademos — although it was
critical of them during the election campaign.

Kouvelis’ new condition sets the hurdle rather high. It is hard to
imagine how Syriza could reconcile itself to joining a coalition with
New Democracy and PASOK. Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras earlier this week
said he would not consider such a move unless New Democracy leader
Antonis Samaras and PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos renounced their
previous commitments to implementing the harsh terms of Greece’s bailout
programs.

In return, Samaras has been highly critical of Tsipras, saying he
wants to pull Greece out of the Eurozone — a view shared by many of
Greece’s European partners. Samaras has urged a broad “pro-euro”
coalition, which would by his own definition exclude Tsipras.

Venizelos currently holds a mandate to try and form a new
government, but he is expected to surrender it later today. That will
set the stage for an intervention over the weekend by Karolos Papoulias,
who will try to convince party leaders to cobble together a workable
coalition. Should he fail, the country will head to new elections, most
likely June 10 or June 17.

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