Greece will hold early national elections on January 25 after parliament failed to elect a new president in a third and final round of voting, prime minister Antonis Samaras has announced.
His coalition government’s candidate for the presidential post, 73-year-old former European commissioner Stavros Dimas, won 168 votes from parliament’s 300 seats – short of the 180 votes needed to win.
Opinion polls have consistently shown the left-wing main opposition party Syriza to be ahead. The party opposes the terms of the bailout deals which kept Greece from defaulting on its debts.
Syriza has pledged to roll back some of the reforms implemented for the country to qualify for billions of euros in rescue funds from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund – although it has recently softened its rhetoric about unilaterally pulling out of the bailout deal.
Mr Samaras had earlier said an election could be “disastrous” while heavily indebted Greece is negotiating with its creditors.
Investors reacted badly to the vote, with the Athens stock exchange’s benchmark general index down 10.8% in midday trading minutes after the vote.
Mr Dimas said the poll still showed a strong majority in parliament backed his candidacy.
“I think I expected the result. I remain calm, as ever,” he said.