The main opposition party SYRIZA was surprised by the government’s decision to speed up the Presidential election, despite repeated calls over the past few weeks. The initial reaction to the official announcement was that the government was preparing for general elections, since SYRIZA considers it highly unlikely that the government will secure the necessary 180 votes.
As such, the main opposition will increase its efforts to secure the 121 votes in Parliament that will block the Presidential election and force general election. Meetings will be arranged with DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis, as well as independent MPs. Should the coalition government manage to elect a President though, SYRIZA will have to reevaluate its overall strategy and seek out different options.
Aside from the Presidential elections though, the clash between the government and opposition will also concern the commitments for the next day. Based on the Eurogroup decision on Monday, it has been speculated that a new measures will accompany the deal and which will be not presented in Parliament in the following weeks until after the elections. This means that the winner of the general elections will have a rather “hot potato” to manage.
SYRIZA’s political secretariat has arranged to convene on Tuesday in order to evaluate the situation and examine all possible scenarios. The main scenario at present is that the coalition government will not elect a President. The opposition though is considering the possibility of the government being successful and calling general elections at a later date.
