Greece: Prime minister deal hits another roadblock
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and members of his government congratulate each other after winning the confidence vote in the Greek parliament on November 04, 2011 in Athens, Greece.
The turmoil and political uncertainty in Greece does not appear to be going away any time soon.
By Wednesday evening, the plans to create a new national unity party and name an interim prime minister had collapsed, Reuters reported.
The setback came less than an hour after outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou made a televised address in which he said the nation's political parties were coming together to save the country, the Associated Press reported. Papandreou spoke of his accomplishments over the past two years and wished his successor luck.
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"I would like to wish every success to the new prime minister and of course the new government. I will stand by them and I will support them with all my strength," he said.
It had been expected that Filippos Petsalnikos, the speaker of the parliament, would be chosen to lead the coalition until elections in February, barring any problems. But there were problems.
"Snags did indeed emerge, with large sections of Papandreou's PASOK party and the conservative New Democracy refusing to back Petsalnikos after a three-day hunt for someone to lead the coalition until early elections in February," Reuters reported.
It stated that sources from the party said some Greek lawmakers did not support Petsalnikos because they saw him as a pawn of Papandreou.
The Greek president's office scheduled another meeting for Thursday morning, the AP stated.
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