President summons party leaders

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou has summoned the leaders of the five parties represented in the new Parliament to a meeting in the Presidential Palace at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

After all three main party leaders – Kyriakos Mitsotakis of New Democracy, Alexis Tsipras of SYRIZA and Nikos Androulakis of PASOK – Movement for Change indicated they had no interest in forming a coalition government, Sakellaropoulou is obligated by the Constitution to call the meeting to gauge the leaders’ interest in forming an all-party government.

The other two leaders to take part in the meeting are Dimitris Koutsoumbas of the Communist Party (KKE) and Kyriakos Velopoulos of Greek Solution.

Sunday’s elections were held under a system of proportional representation applied for the first time in more than three decades, which resulted no overall majority in the 300-member Parliament. New Democracy won 146 seats, five shy of a majority, followed by SYRIZA with 71, PASOK with 41, KKE with 26 and Greek Solution with 16. The next ballot will see election rules revert to a pro-majority system, handing the winning party a so-called election bonus of up to 50 seats, depending on its performance.

Following the parties’ expected rejection of an all-party government, President Sakellaropoulou will call on the President of one of the country’s high courts – the Supreme Court, the Council of State and the Court of Audit – to form a caretaker government until the next election, most likely to take place on June 25.

The Parliament that was elected on May 21 will meet for one day to swear in the new MPs and elect a speaker and deputy speakers. 

The presidential decree that called for the national election on May 21 had set June 1 as the day the Parliament would meet. But, according to media, this date might be brought up to Sunday, May 28.

The day after the Parliament meets, a presidential decree dissolving it and calling for a new election will be posted in one of its entrances.

[Kathimerini/AP]