Greek premier calls snap presidential election

Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has called a snap presidential election in a high-stakes bid to retain power despite his failure to end his country's punishing €245bn international bailout.

Mr Samaras brought forward the presidential vote by two months after eurozone finance ministers concluded Greece had not completed all the reforms necessary to to obtain its last bailout payment which would bring the four-year rescue to a close.

The presidential contest - a vote by members of parliament to replace incumbent Karolos Papoulias - had been due in February, but the first round will now take place on December 17, with further polls on December 23 and 29.

Mr Samaras must find 180 votes in parliament to elect a new president, but his governing coalition only has 155 MPs. If he is unable to find another 25 votes from a patchwork of independents and MPs from smaller parties, he must call a snap general election. Public opinion polls show he would lose to the radical leftist Syriza party.

A government spokesman said the decision was taken to "prevent the opposition from undermining Greece's economy and directing messages of political uncertainty to financial markets".

The prime minister's gamble appears to be based on a hope that a new promise to end the hated bailout in February would be enough to win over the parliamentary support he needs. A government collapse followed by a Syriza victory in subsequent elections would plunge Greece into turmoil and vastly complicate negotiations between Athens and its creditors. Syriza has touted a radical debt restructuring and much higher public spending.

Mr Samaras had requested a short "technical" extension of a few weeks to get agreement with bailout monitors ahead of the presidential vote. But eurozone officials decided Athens could not complete a deal in such short period, forcing the longer extension.

"On the basis of the work done, even though there has been some progress, it is impossible to positively conclude [the bailout] this year," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who heads the eurogroup of his counterparts.

"We have looked at short and long extensions," Mr Dijsselbloem added. "Too short has the risk that you need to extend again because the work simply hasn't been concluded yet. Too long poses all kinds of questions of, 'Why so long an extension?' So let's do it as quickly as we can."

The extension of the EU programme does not affect the International Monetary Fund's portion of the bailout, which is not due to run out until 2016.

Eurozone officials said the extension, which comes with a commitment by the bloc to replace the current bailout with a new line of credit for Athens, could still help Mr Samaras if he, as expected, turns the presidential vote into a referendum on the bailout's completion.

Mr Dijsselbloem said Greek authorities are due to formally submit their request for an extension by Tuesday, enabling national parliaments that need to approve the new timeframe - including the German Bundestag - to complete their work before leaving for winter holidays.

The "troika" of bailout monitors - the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF - will also submit a report on the rescue's state of play, detailing what needs to be completed before Greece can exit the programme.

If Athens is able to pass the remaining measures required by the troika, Greece is expected to get a new €26bn package consisting of the remaining cash in the IMF rescue with a further €10bn "enhanced conditions" credit line from the eurozone.

Mr Dijsselbloem said the details of what will be required under the credit line would not be decided until the current bailout runs out next year. But because the IMF programme will continue, quarterly evaluations of international monitors will not end.

The quarterly troika reviews have become politically toxic in Greece, and Mr Samaras had hoped to go into the February vote having ended both the EU and IMF rescues.

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