Gov't To Seek Vote of Confidence from Parliament next Monday

The coalition government is planning to seek a vote of confidence from the Greek Parliament next Monday - when plenary sessions resume for the winter - in accordance with article 84 of the Constitution. The decision, according to government spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi, was taken during a meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Wednesday afternoon.

She also said that both party leaders also decided that the process for the election of the new president of the Republic is going to go ahead as outlined in the Constitution, one month before the current president's term expires in February 2015.

Some analysts claim that the aim behind this move is aligned to the upcoming presidential election. As we all know, the opposition has threatened to use this process in order to bring down the coalition government (much like George Papandreou did to Costas Karamanlis several years ago.)

Apparently the government is concerned about the majority (or 180 votes) it needs for the election of a new president and is attempting to rally its MPs ahead of the big political battle, which could determine its time in office. If the government does not succeed and cannot rally 180 MPs to appoint a new president in February, then early elections will be triggered. Let us not forget that the coalition government has a slim majority of 154 MPs out of 300.

The first comments from the main opposition party SYRIZA party right after the announcement was that the confidence vote is going to be the coalition government's (and especially Samaras') last chance to "finally visit the parliament so that he can account for his destructive policies".

Obviously SYRIZA is going to try and rall its own supporters and, given the recent (questionable) polls giving the radical Left party a relatively comfortable lead, its leader Alexis Tsipras will use it as an opportunity to hammer the coalition and push the country towards early elections.

SYRIZA officials said the decision by the coalition party leaders was dictated by the need to find an outlet to the multiple pressures the government is facing from the troika, society, SYRIZA and people within the government.

Some analysts say that the speculation over potential early elections has triggered and exacerbated rifts within the government. In fact some clashes have broken out both between ministers belonging to the same party, only adding to the argument that the current coalition government may not be able to remain in power for long.