Presidency of the Republic: The President will exhaust his term

"Republic President Karolos Papoulias will exhaust his term," a close associate of the President told www.protothema.gr on occasion of the SYRIZA announcement where the main opposition party calls Carolos Papoulias to clarify his intentions.

As indicated by the main opposition party "articles from a portion of the press, given all that has been said by the President of the Republic in the established cutting of his Christmas cake, are fueling discussions that enhance the possibility of early elections."

"In any case, the Presidency of the Republic is formally asked to clarify its intentions," the SYRIZA announcement concludes.

After this announcement, www.protothema.gr contacted the Presidency of the Republic and received the reply that Papoulias will exhaust his term.

Friday morning and while speaking in parliament, the SYRIZA leader urged the government to stop the games and stressed that "the next President of the Republic shall be elected in parliament with a SYRIZA majority."

In an indirect way, Tsipras with this statement triggers scenarios for early elections due to the President of the Republic. Papoulias’ term ends in February 2015 and the election of the new president will require an increased majority of three fifths of the parliament which the current government does not have.

This, combined with today’s statement by Tsipras causes hints that perhaps SYRIZA is thinking of exploiting the election of a new President of the Republic to trigger early elections, as had been done in 2009 by George Papandreou as well who thereby managed to bring PASOK back in power.