New Democracy

Parliament's ethics committee convened on Friday afternoon to discuss claims by independent Greeks MP Pavlos Haikalis that a middleman tried to bribe him so he would vote for the coalition's candidate in presidential elections.

At an emergency press conference on Friday, Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos backed allegations by his MP Pavlos Haikalis according to which a middleman tried to bribe the latter to vote for the coalition's candidate for president.

Former prime minister and New Democracy honorary president Constantinos Mitsotakis was to meet with President Karolos Papoulis at 2 p.m. on Friday after the former requested the meeting, citing rising concern over political upheaval as a second round of crucial presidential elections looms.

There was growing pressure on the government on Thursday, even from within its own ranks, to come up with some kind of proposal that might bring the political parties together and avoid early elections.

Former prime minister and New Democracy honorary president Constantinos Mitsotakis on Thursday issued a statement urging local parties to find some common ground and avoid leading the country to early general elections, after a first vote in Parliament for a new president was seen a poor result for the coalition forces.

A new poll published Wednesday, a few hours before Greek MPs start the first round of crucial voting to determine whether Parliament will elect a new president or whether the country will head to national elections, showed leftist SYRIZA opposition gaining a 3.2 percent lead over New Democracy, the larger of the two parties involved in Greece's coalition government.

The first of possibly three presidential ballots will take place on Wednesday evening, with the government expecting its candidate, Stavros Dimas, to receive at least 161 of 300 MPs’ votes, which will be well short of the 200 needed to be elected but a basis for the coalition to work from for the final ballot on December 29, when 180 votes will be required.

A new poll published on Tuesday, a day before Greek lawmakers start the first round of crucial voting to determine whether Parliament will elect a new president or whether the country will head to general elections, showed opposition SYRIZA gaining a 4.9 percent lead over New Democracy, the larger of the two parties co-governing Greece.

Following last week’s gun attack against the Israeli Embassy in Athens, the Greek Police’s counter-terrorism unit is on alert for another assault, possibly against a human target, in the countdown to critical presidential elections, sources have told Kathimerini.

A new opinion poll by Kapa Research shows that the gap between SYRIZA and New Democracy is closing.

Published in Sunday’s To Vima newspaper, the survey puts support for SYRIZA at 25.5 percent, followed by 22.7 percent for New Democracy.

This means that the difference between the two parties has narrowed from 3.6 percent to 2.8 percent over the last month.