No president in Greece, Stavros Dimas does not pass the first round

Only 160 MPs were in favor of the candidate of the ruling coalition to the presidency of Greece, Stavros Dimas. He lacked 40 votes.

But there are still two rounds on 23 and 29 December, as the only candidate able to succeed in convincing beyond his camp. Otherwise, Greece should hold early parliamentary that Syriza, the anti-austerity party would be able to win.

At the end of the Parliament, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was however "optimistic", "we will succeed to elect a president, the conditions are difficult for the country and I am sure that members understand that Greece should not entering a period of trouble. "

"The scaremongering in recent days and the strategy of fear have failed" felt Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the radical left Syriza. "Tomorrow is a new day, a more optimistic day, we saw that democracy can not be blackmailed."

Syriza favorite of opinion polls, raises reservations on the European stage. Because the party is opposed to the extreme rigor imposed on the country by his creditors (EU, ECB, IMF) since the beginning of the debt crisis in 2010, in exchange for 240 billion euros in loans.

According to our reporter in Athens, Stamatis Giannisis, "the 160 votes that the candidate of the ruling coalition managed to gather during the first round are still very far from the 180 he will need in the third round if the country wants to avoid general elections. In the court of the government, it nevertheless remains confident he remains 12 days for the independents and those of smaller opposition parties change their minds. "