The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is set to make a return to his rhetoric from 2012, when he stressed the possibility of Greece being asked to abandon the Euro, should SYRIZA come to power. The critical Presidential elections may result in early elections, should the coalition government be unable to amass the necessary 180 MP votes in the third vote in December.

Meanwhile foreign press and media outlets are referring to the situation in 2012, when the possibility of a Grexit and suspension of payments dominated headlines, which the Prime Minister referred to in a speech on Wednesday. Mr. Samaras wants to stress the possibility of such a damaging event in order to take advantage of popular opinion, which appears to be against early elections.

As such, New Democracy’s officers will begin to raise their tone against SYRIZA and directly accuse the main opposition part of causing the political destabilization of the country, since it is trying to force early elections. Mr. Samaras specifically argues that the potential win of SYRIZA in early elections may jeopardize Greece’s position in the Eurozone “when we are one breath away from normality”.

Presidential election concerns

Regarding the Presidential election itself, the government-sponsored candidate Stavros Dimas has not received the popular support which the coalition had hoped. Rumors circulating suggest the possibility of Mr. Dimas being replaced in the third critical vote in December, should the results of the previous two not be satisfactory. The PM and his office deny such a possibility and claim that Mr. Dimas will be in all three votes.

While the coalition government is banking on support from independent MPs, New Democracy and PASOK are looking closely at the Democratic Left (DIMAR) and Independent Greeks (ANEL). While party leaders Fotis Kouvelis and Panos Kammenos have declared that their MPs will vote against in the Presidential elections, the coalition parties are hoping in some “leaks” that would help the government reach its goal.

Since the announcement of Mr. Dimas’ candidacy, about 15-16 independent MPs have expressed their intention to support the government, meaning that unless Golden Dawn decides to openly support the government (which is highly unlikely), New Democracy and PASOK would need to secure the votes of 9-10 MPs from DIMAR and ANEL.