Greek Parliament speaker objects to government formation process

Greece's parliament speaker objected on Friday to the procedure followed by the country's president in handing out a mandate to the opposition to form a government, saying it was handled with an "unconstitutional rush."

A statement from Zoe Constantopoulou's office said Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos had clearly sidestepped her constitutional responsibility to verify each parliamentary party's standing before assigning mandates.

The statement was the latest twist complicating Greece's political scene after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned to pave the way for early elections, though Constantopoulou is not expected to be able to derail the process being followed by the president.

[Reuters]