100 hours remain until the noon of Monday, December 29, when the third and final vote for the election of a President of the Republic will take place in the Greek parliament, as provided in the Constitution.
This crucial vote will determine whether a new President of the Republic will be elected to succeed Karolos Papoulias or the Greek parliament will have to be dissolved.
In the latter case, the country will be led to snap national elections, probably on January 25 or February 1.
The third vote will take place in a climate of extreme polarization between the coalition government and the main opposition SYRIZA party.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has warned that if the government’s candidate Stavros Dimas is not elected President, the country will be in serious political trouble and its future in Europe will be uncertain. Mr. Samaras has also accused SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and ANEL leader Panos Kammenos of running a mudslinging campaign to prevent the deputies from voting for Stavros Dimas.
During the next few critical days, Mr. Samaras may issue a new proclamation requesting the deputies help to secure the 180 votes needed for the election of new President. It should be noted that in the second round, Mr. Dimas received 168 votes, and he must secure the support of 12 more deputies to achieve the constitutionally required majority of the 3/5 of the Greek deputies.
