Greek kingmaker-in-waiting says he won't gamble euro exit

By Nikos Chrysoloras, Jenny Paris & Antonis Galanopoulos

A Greek political party founded less than a year ago that might end up deciding the makeup of the next government won?t lend support to any coalition willing to gamble with the country?s place in the euro, its leader said.

To Potami, or ?the River? in Greek, is polling in third place ahead of January 25 elections. It trails the governing New Democracy party and rival SYRIZA, which opposes austerity measures imposed as a condition of Greece?s two bailouts and aims to negotiate a writedown on some debt.

?We won?t play with the euro, and we won?t allow any gamble with Greece?s membership in the euro area,? Stavros Theodorakis, 51, who previously worked as a journalist, said in an interview in Athens on Thursday. ?We will defend the country?s European course.?

Speculation over Greece?s future has roiled markets, pushing benchmark 10-year bond yields above 10 percent for the first time in 15 months this week. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said the SYRIZA victory predicted in opinion polls would lead to default and an exit from the euro.

Yet most surveys suggest SYRIZA, an acronym for Coalition of the Radical Left, wouldn?t garner enough support to secure a parliamentary majority and form a government without a junior partner. That would leave To Potami as the potential kingmaker.

The alternative scenario is if neither SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, 40, nor Samaras, 63, win by a sufficient margin to form a coalition of their choosing. In that case, according to Theodorakis, the most obvious option would be for the two rival forces to unite.

?If the gap between the winner and the second party is very small, then there will be huge pressure to form a grand...