As previewed earlier today, in a vote whose outcome was widely anticipated, Greece’s Samaras failed to get enough votes (200) to push through his choice for president, Stavros Dimas.
GREECE’S SAMARAS FAILS TO GET VOTES TO ELECT PRESIDENT: TALLY GREECE’S SAMARAS LOSES FIRST OF THREE DEC. VOTES ON PRESIDENT As a reminder, this is the first of three votes, in which the candidate needs 200 votes. ND and PASOK have together 155 seats in the Parliament, and they expected to win some votes from independent MPs and possibly also some votes from Independent Greeks and Democratic Left MPs. According to Greek media, the government expects to win a total of 162-165 votes for Dimas in the first round.
The final vote: 160 For, 135 Against, and 5 Abstain.
Up next is the second round vote when the threshold once again is 200 will take place on December 23, with the vote limit dropping to only 180 votes in the third and last round of voting on December 29.
In other words, Samaras is a crucial 20 votes short of getting his candidate pushed through in 2 weeks, after which follow a messy election that according to recent polls may well be won by left-wing Syriza and its anti-bailout leader, Samaras.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 12/17/2014.
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