The second round of voting in the Greek Parliament didn’t bring a president. 168 out of 300 MPs voted for Stavros Dimas. 131 MPs were against, and one MP was absent. The third round, scheduled for 29th of December, will be decisive.
Besides the 155 MPs of New Democracy and PASOK, 13 independent MPs, eight more than last time, voted for Dimas. The two former MPs of Golden Dawn, Stathis Bukuras and Hrisovalantos Alexopoulos, also voted for Dimas.
The first reaction was that the outcome was expected, there are no major disappointments and no big surprises. The best scenario for the Government and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras would have been to win about 172 votes in order to get to eight MPs for the needed 180 easier. So far there is an initial satisfaction, but they know that they have a long way to needed number.
There was a big tension and agitation in the Greek Parliament prior to the voting. One of the MPs of the Democratic Left Niki Funta dissatisfied with the attempt of Democratic Left to negotiate cooperation with SYRIZA, left the party and declared as an independent MP just before the vote. Although she was independent, Funta didn’t support Dimas.
One minute before the beginning of the voting, there was a sudden tete-a-tete meeting between former and current PASOK leaders George Papandreou and Evangelos Venizelos.
