Greek Conservatives Refuse to Enter Coalition With Syriza at Next Elections

The Greek conservative New Democracy party announced on Friday that it would not enter a coalition with the ruling left-wing Syriza party after the next parliamentary elections.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier this month, the Greek government proposed amendments to the country's electoral legislation to cancel the 50-seat bonus for the winning party in elections to the 300-seat parliament, which might result in extra time being needed to form a government. If the amendments are adopted by parliament, the new rules will apply to the outcome of the next parliamentary elections. The amendments have been criticized by Greek opposition parties.

"I would never agree to enter a coalition with [Syriza leader Alexis] Tsipras because we are separated by an abyss," New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Deutsche Welle's Greek edition, adding that there were many reasons for this, including his lack of confidence in the Tsipras government.

He said the elections in Greece would be neither positive nor negative, adding that the political cost of an election campaign would be smaller than the benefit for Greece.

In the run-up to the previous elections, the ruling coalition of the Syriza party promised to cancel the 50-seat bonus but after the leftist coalition's victory the issue was shelved. It was not addressed until the left-wing party recently started to significantly lose popularity, giving way to New Democracy in the polls.