The latest “twist” in the Greek “crisis saga” played out in Parliament’s corridors throughout Friday, mostly orchestrated by Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou.
The tragi-comedic handing of the supremely crucial and urgent vote to give the Tsipras government the right to work out a deal with creditors essentially means that a roll-call vote will be taken at … 3 a.m.!
Earlier, Konstantopoulou convened a political party leaders’ conference for 10.15 p.m. (20.15 GMT), while she previously proposed that a Parliament plenum begin sessions at … 6 a.m.
That proposal was rejected by the parties.
According to reports, Konstantopoulou wanted the plenary session to begin at one minute past midnight, so the date will change. The reason is that the detail-minded lawmaker didn’t want to violate the exact letter of Parliament regulations.

All eyes on number of ‘defections’ from coalition MPs

Political, and not constitutional problems, will emerge if more than 12 MPs from the two government coalition partners, leftist SYRIZA and rightist-populist AN.EL, vote against the proposal towards creditors.

While not losing its mandate, a “defection” of 12 or more MPs will mean a political defeat, possibly leading to the government’s resignation and snap elections… again.