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Greece’s government announced on Monday it would hold a first round vote in a snap presidential election in Parliament on 17 December.
The decision was taken after MPs voted the 2015 budget and eurozone finance ministers approved a two-month exention of Greece’s bailout plan, which ends on 31 December, so as to allow Athens to reach a deal with the EU-ECB-IMF troika on the outstanding reforms needed to disburse the final tranche of the €240-billion package.
If no candidate gets 200 votes in the first ballot, a second vote will follow five days later. If that is inconclusive, a third round will be held with 180 votes needed for the election of a president. If the final vote is also inconclusive, the Athens daily writes that —
the country will go to snap general elections, and the next government will have to manage all major issues. It would probably be a government of [left opposition party] Syriza. Then, the hot potato will pass into the hands of [its leader], Alexis Tsipras.
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