Third round of Presidential elections today at noon

The third round for the election of President of Republic will be held on Monday noon at the Parliament. If the 180 votes needed for the election are not gathered, then the parliament will be dissolved and snap elections will be declared.

Should the government-sponsored candidate Stavros Dimas not be elected today, then general elections will take place on January 25th or February 1st.

In order to secure Dimas’ election the coalition government has to secure the support of 180 members of parliament.

In the first vote Dimas received 160 votes and in the second he received an additional 8. In order to reach 180 votes, Dimas would have to attract the votes of MPs from the Democratic Left (DIMAR) and the Independent Greeks party (ANEL).

At present it seems unlikely that early elections will be avoided, as senior government officers have predicted that Dimas may receive a maximum of 173 or 175 votes. Nevertheless, should more MPs be considering to change their vote, they will do so at the final moment.

A cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, will convene on Monday at 14:00 after the conclusion of the third round of the voting.