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The new election race has now officially started with furious opposition, coalition attempts between the parties, battles in the polls between the two parties that received the most votes in the recent elections - New Democracy and SYRIZA. Add to all this the ongoing events regarding Angela Merkel’s proposal for the referendum on Greece remaining in the eurozone to be held along with elections.

 
The functionary prime minister seemingly calmed down the spirits about the proposal of the German chancellor made during a telephone conversation with President Carlos Papoulias, but Der Spiegel magazine confirmed in a publication that Angela Merkel has actually made a proposal to hold a referendum. Berlin officially disproved this message on Friday evening, however the office of the Greek president insisted, that such a proposal had really been made. According to the German press on the other hand a similar idea had also been proposed last week by the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble at a meeting of the eurozone finance ministers.

"I think this issue was over on Friday. What is important  and what we need to focus on is the summit on Wednesday, and there we must go well prepared", said the Functionary Prime Minister of Greece Panagiotis Pikramenos.

In any case, the leader of SYRIZA went back to the question which provoked on Friday a storm of reactions, indicating that this is "unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state." In a message he also stressed that "this proposal is in conformity with the policy led by Samaras and Venzilos, whose common goal is to terrorize society and to change the dilemmas of the next election."

New Democracy suggested a TV battle Samaras - Tsipras  

Meanwhile the spokesman of New Democracy Yiannis Mihelakis proposed that a televised debate be held between Antonis Samaras and Alexis Tsipras. Regarding Merkel’s proposal for a possible referendum, Mihelakis reiterated that this could not happen and that the citizens have already clearly indicated their position.

PASOK in turn suggested a debate between all the leaders  

The spokesman of PASOK Fofi Gennimata did not hide her surprise at Mihelakis’ proposal. "This is the same person who evaded proposals for debate between the leaders before the first elections under various pretexts", said Gennimata and indicated that the "sudden volte-face of New Democracy shows many things."

The spokesman of PASOK accused New Democracy that "both then and now" it wants to avoid at all costs a dialogue between Venizelos and Samaras. "We believe in the dialogue and we are offering television debates between the leaders of all parties on all key issues", said in conclusion Gennimata.

An attack of Aleka Papariga against New Democracy and SYRIZA

In turn, the Secretary of the Communist Party KKE Aleka Papariga made a simultaneous attack against New Democracy and SYRIZA.

Papariga stressed that people will be disappointed both by the Government of New Democracy and that of SYRIZA, and that the situation will get worse because "we will get the same results." Regarding New Democracy, Papariga noted that the goal of Samaras is to destroy the KKE, and that’s why he’s using strong anticommunist rhetoric. With regards to SYRIZA the Secretary General of KKE stressed that the extreme leftist party has concentrated mainly on the memorandum, while in practice it cannot be repealed and Greece should remain in the European Union.

Fotis Kouvelis: What they are trying to do is a bad imitation of the bipartisanship model

"What they are trying to do is a bad imitation of the bipartisanship model", said the leader of the Democratic Left party Fotis Kouvelis before candidate MPs and party members at a hotel in downtown Athens.

As he explained, "on the one side will be the threat and fear caused by PASOK and New Democracy through the dilemma 'euro or drachma', on the other - the populist rhetoric of a populist left party, which is hovering between the discussions regarding the loan agreement and the memorandum, through the "freezing" to get to a "review" of the overall strategic framework".

«The Democratic Leftist is the third pole, the one that tells people "do not fall into the trap of this bad imitation of a bipartisanship model"», said Kouvelis and asked for the support of the citizens so as not to go to new elections after the 17^th of June, but for a progressive government to be formed to lead the country out of the crisis.

LAOS will participate independently in the elections

Meanwhile, during the general meeting of the Executive Secretariat and the former parliamentary group of the party it was decided for the far-right party LAOS to participate independently in the elections on the 17^th of June.

According to sources, the leader of LAOS has offered three options: first - independent participation in the elections, second - cooperation with New Democracy, and third - cooperation with New Democracy, but in a more "loose" form. Ultimately, after the discussions with an overwhelming majority it was decided that LAOS participate independently in the elections on the 17^th of June.

The party "Social Contract for Greece in Europe": A proposal for cooperation with SYRIZA, the Democratic Leftist and the Environmentalists

The newly established party "Social Contract for Greece in Europe" will not participate independently in the elections on the 17^th of June, as agreed at the first national meeting of the members of the Movement. An analysis was made during the meeting of the election results from the 6^th of May and the party's views on the development of political events was also discussed.

As stated in a message of the party, "Social Contract" made a proposal for cooperation to all democratic, progressive, patriotic and leftist parties, with which they have common programming views.

Within this framework, the party began a dialogue with the political forces, addressing SYRIZA, the Democratic Left party, the environmentalists and other groups of citizens, aiming at electoral cooperation with them.

Now officially: The elections will be held on the 17^th of June

On Saturday at noon a Presidential Decree was published, dissolving the Parliament formed after the elections on the 6^th of May. The decree was signed by the President of Greece Carlos Papoulias and the Functionary Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikramenos. With the same decree the next elections are scheduled for the 17^th of June and the parliament, which will be formed after them will be convened on the 28^th of June.

Preparations for the elections and cost reduction due to the difficult economic situation of the country were placed on the agenda during the meeting at the Ministry of the Interior, chaired by the Prime Minister Pikramenos and with the participation of the Minister of the Interior Antonis Manitakis, the Minister of Justice Christos Geraris, the government spokesman, and other senior officials. Immediately after the meeting Pikramenos announced that all issues related to the smooth conduct of the elections were discussed, indicating that the Ministry of the Interior is ready. The Functionary Prime Minister also stressed that "We'll try to do everything in our power to shrink the costs for elections, in cooperation with all parties."

Asked to comment on the statements of the leaders of the other parties on the remaining of ​​Greece in the eurozone, the Prime Minister Pikramenos refused to answer: "I think that no statement on my part would be helpful."

In turn, Antonis Manitakis announced that on Tuesday the first meeting of the cross-party committee for the elections will be held, adding that new elections will be held on the basis of the same electoral lists as those from the 6^th of May.