Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras urged Parliament to back the coalition government’s candidate for president in the third and final round of voting at noon on Monday. Mr. Samaras said that Greece faces “turbulence for no reason” if former EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas is not voted in as president, a largely honorary title, that would automatically disolve parliament and lead to general elections.

For the third round, Mr. Dimas needs 180 MPs to back his candidacy in order to be voted in. In the second round, he fell short of this number by 12 votes. The government urges deputies to “listen to the voice of their reason” and vote for Mr. Dimas so as to avoid elections.

The 12 independent MPs are invited to play a crucial role in Monday’s voting, however six of these have already aligned themselves with the main opposition Radical Left SYRIZA party.

There is a general “mood” that Mr. Dimas will fail to gain the backing he needs to prevent early elections. For this reason, some members of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party and Democratic Left (DIMAR) party that may not agree with their party line are still unlikely to take a different stand to what their parties urge feeling that their vote won’t make a difference.

The voting trend will be made obvious early on. ANEL deputy Elena Kountoura is considered as a likely candidate to change her vote and support Mr. Dimas in the last round, whereas other MPs who may end up supporting Mr. Dimas are independent MPs Vyron Polydoras, Petros Tatsopoulos and Mimis Androulakis.