Heading for 300 affirmative votes

 

6 parties have filed 3 proposals for a committee recommendation regarding the Lagarde list case, and all have as a common point Papakonstantinou’s referral.

 

Specifically, one proposal has been filed by ND-DIMAR-PASOK, one  by SYRIZA and one by the Independent Greeks backed by the Golden Dawn. Thus, the affirmative vote of at least 271 MPs is seen as certain. In addition, 12 members of the Communist Party and probably all the 17 independent MPs are expected to vote in favor of the former minister’s referral as well.

 

The results of the vote on Papandreou and Venizelos will be of particular interest, especially in terms of political implications. According to experienced parliamentary members, we might see the emergence of "rebels" from within the coalition government who will vote in favor of Venizelos’ referral and from SYRIZA, who will vote in favor of Papandreou’s referral.

 

The debate and vote on these 3 proposals will occur in one parliamentary meeting, which will probably take place next Wednesday or Thursday, 16.01 or 17.01 respectively. These are two most likely scenarios: The first states that there will be 4 voting ballots, equal to the number of referral nominees, and the second that there will be 3 ballots, as many as the suggestions for setting up a preliminary investigation committee.

 

If the Greek parliament decides to refer the former minister, this will automatically mean the setting-up of a committee that will conduct the relevant investigation and deliver the result within 40 days. It will probably consist of 13 members and the distribution of the MPs will be as follows: 5 from ND, 3 from SYRIZA and one MP from each of the other parties.