Greek Conservatives Must Form Coalition Government

Posted May 7th, 2012 at 4:55 am (UTC-5)
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Greek voters have pushed the country into more political uncertainty after no party garnered nearly enough votes to form a government.

Results Monday from parliamentary elections the day before show the conservative New Democracy party winning about 19 percent of the votes. That is the most of any single party, but the percentage falls far short of the number needed to form a government on its own.

The Socialist PASOK party won less than 14 percent of the vote, after taking 44 percent just three years ago to take power in Greece. The leftist, anti-EU bailout Syriza party won about 17 percent in Sunday's election.

New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras now has three days to form a coalition government. He is expected to begin coalition talks later Monday. Failure to form a coalition after three days leaves the task up to smaller groups.

PASOK took power in 2009 and soon discovered the country was deep in debt. It later entered into a coalition with the conservatives to get parliament to pass tough economic austerity measures. The EU demanded Greece impose the measures if it wanted crucial bailout money.

The measures include job cuts and tax hikes, infuriating millions of Greeks who say they sacrificed enough.

Both parties have said they will press the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank to ease austerity requirements imposed on Athens' debt-ridden government in return for more than $300 billion in two bailouts. But many Greeks accuse the ND-PASOK coalition of fueling the crisis with corrupt practices and widespread mismanagement.