By Angelika Papamiltiadou
ATHENS (MNI) – The Conservative New Democracy party, which is
leading the exit polls of the Greek national elections, will seek to
form a coalition government with socialist PASOK party, aides close to
party leader Antonis Samaras told reporters Sunday.
The aides indicated that Samaras will not seek new elections
despite lower-than-expected exit poll results.
The aides told reporters that when New Democracy receives the
mandate to form a government, it will have three days during which it
must gather support to get a working parliamentary majority, meaning a
percentage of over 38%.
New Democracy aides hope that the actual results will exceed
indications based on exit polls and that the conservative party could
wind up with as much as 25%. In this case, even if PASOK comes third in
votes and only gets 13%, the working majority could marginally be
achieved.
The aides did not specify whether Samaras would also seek the
participation of a third party in the coalition government.
PASOK party leader and ex-Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos
forbade members of his party to appear or make statements before a clear
picture of the electoral results has emerged. But his aides also told
reporters that the socialists will be willing to participate in the
coalition.
According to the latest exit polls, the socialists will wind up
with some 13-14% of the votes and the conservatives between 19-20.5% of
the votes.
A_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com Athens bureau +30-6937100071
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