The second round of Presidential voting ended on Tuesday with candidate Stavros Dimas to have received 168 votes, far below the 200 needed. The votes came from the coalition Nea Dimokratia – PASOK (155) and 13 from independent MPs, among them two ex Golden Dawn.
2. round of voting – results:
Stavros Dimas 168
Present: 131
Absent 1
In the third round of voting, on 29. December 2014, the Presidential candidate will need only 180 votes to be elected.
Where will the missing but urgently needed 12 votes will come from?
Again, the government targets the poll of independent MPs – 24 in total – and some votes from Democratic Left and Independent Greeks. Already in the first round some former DemLeft voted for Dimas. Two DemLeft MPs left the party short before the voting on Tuesday, they voted against “Dimas” but predictions have it that they will vote in favor in the third round.
According to Greek media, the coalition government hopes to receive the votes of
1) the two Democratic Left MPs who abandoned tha party short before the voting today = 170 votes
2) chances are good to gain the votes of independent MPs Kapernaros (ex IndepGreeks) and Polydoras (ex ND) = 172 votes
3) there are still 3-4 MPs who could be persuaded to vote in favor of Dimas = 175-176 votes
4) only some votes from Democratic Left and Independent Greeks would help Dimas to climb the Presidential chair and avoid snap elections.
Analysts estimate that the Prime Minister has to do some significant gesture in order to gain these missing votes.
However, it currently seems very difficult for the government to get together 180 votes and snap elections on 25. January or 1. February 2015 seem inevitable.
Yet. You never know in this crazy world of Greek politics….
KTG’s Live Blog from 2. round of voting here
PS I suppose, the PM, the deputy PM and the MPs will spend the Holidays under a Christmas tree decorated with votes…
