To Potami determined to prevent second round of elections
To Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis suggested on Thursday that he would go all out to prevent Greece needing a second election by working to form a coalition if no party receives a parliamentary majority on January 25.
“It is not my intention to go to a second election,” he said. “We are not going to destroy the country just so the election winner can increase his share of the vote from 33 percent to 35. Anyone that takes this risk will pay the price.”
Theodorakis’s message was clearly aimed at SYRIZA, which is leading opinion polls but has displayed a reluctance to consider the possibility of working with To Potami after the elections.
The leader of the centrist party also criticized SYRIZA for the confused statements being made by its candidates, arguing they are giving the impression of “complete chaos.”
“One guy is saying that they will find 3 billion euros from tax evasion, another guy is saying they will abolish the property tax in January, another that we do not need the pending bailout tranche of 7.5 billion euros,” he said before adding that former Independent Greeks MP Rachil Makri, who joined SYRIZA as a candidate last week, had “put the cherry on the cake” by claiming that the Bank of Greece could “print” 100 billion euros.
Makri made the comments while speaking on a TV station in Kozani, northern Greece, where she will be standing as a candidate.
“The emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) will be activated and we will be able to print 100 billion euros on our own at the Bank of Greece,” she said in response to a question about what a SYRIZA government would do if the European Central Bank cuts off funding to Greek banks.
