Greece: Presidential elections shall be held early

EFE

In the third and decisive parliamentary vote held today in Greece, the candidate for President of Greece, Stavros Dimas, was not elected, by which the European country shall call to early elections.

The former European commissioner and several times minister, 73, won the backing of 168 of the 300 members of the Greek legislature, 12 less than the 180 votes he needed, and the same number as in the previous vote.

The roll call vote was attended by 300 parliamentarians, of which only 132 voted with present and where they had two options: hail the name of the candidate, as a supporting sign, or say present.

The Greek Constitution provides that if the President, position basically representative, is not chosen in any of the three ballots, the Parliament must necessarily be dissolved within ten days and must hold elections between three and four weeks later.

However, the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, proposed on Monday to hold early elections on January 25, inevitable after the failure of Dimas.

“Tomorrow I will visit the president and I will request him” that “elections are held as soon as possible, on January 25,” Samaras said in a televised speech.