180 deputies are required for the election of a president in the third round of elections on December 29. The magic number seems impossible under the current circumstances due to the fact that the leadership of the opposition parties and a portion of independent deputies do not want elections to take place. The next fortnight is crucial for political negotiations within the government to help break the deadlock.

Current estimations show that it is unlikely that Mr. Dimas will gather over 164 or 165 votes in the first round of voting on December 17. This is just 10 more votes than the guaranteed support he will get from the coalition government (128 from the conservative New Democracy party and 27 from socialist PASOK).

The low result of the first round of voting could be repeated in the second round held on December 23 unless something happens to change the stand being adopted by 15 to 1 deputies who are independent or from the Independent Greeks (ANEL) and Democratic Left (DIMAR).

A possible scenario is that Mr. Stavros Dimas candidacy for president may be revoked if he falls short of 180 votes in the first and second round. This scenario is being speculated even though Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has stated that there will be no second candidate. Another scenario that seems less likely is that the election of a new president might only take place after a government reshuffle and change of leadership – a prospect that could occur based on the behind-the-scenes negotiations of supporters of former socialist prime minister George Papandreou.