‘The eurozone’s weakest link just got weaker.’ So says Tristan Cooper, sovereign debt analyst at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, on the results of Sunday’s Greek elections. The four parties who said they would continue the country’s austerity programme won just 36.4 per cent of the vote between them. The two of those that won parliamentary seats — centre-right New Democracy and centre-left Pasok — fell just short of a combined majority (they now hold 149 of the 300 seats). And now ND leader Antonis Samaras has admitted defeat in his efforts to form a coalition.
The impasse has come about because of the anti-austerity parties’ refusal to join New Democracy in government, and Pasok’s refusal to join a government without any other leftist parties — perhaps they’ve learnt from the Lib Dems’ tribulations here. After being rebuffed by his various potential partners, Samaras said
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