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67 MPs chose not to have an official car, to which they are entitled under parliamentary rules. 47 of them are SYRIZA members.

This was announced by the parliament chairwoman, Zoi Konstandopoulou.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had raised the car issue while presenting his government's policy statement, thus causing discontent even among the MPs of his own party. This in turn led to his vitriolic response a few days later at a SYRIZA central committee meeting. Zoi Konstandopoulou also weighed in on the issue at a news conference. She pointed out that the lease agreement, which the parliament has made with a private contractor, ends at the end of the year.

"We are going to terminate the contract as of 1 September. This will provide time to both the contractor to be prepared and to Parliament to ward off eventual litigation over the contract cancellation; and the MPs will have time to mull over the issue," Mrs Konstandopoulou said.

"Quite a few, really. Many MPs abstained from using an official car," said a representative of SYRIZA’s parliamentary group to Kathimerini, without quoting specific numbers (SYRIZA has 149 MPs). This happened at a time when there was still no official information. "Some of my colleagues have been too shy to go public on the fact that they don't want a car," said one of the newly elected deputies. And after reminding that SYRIZA gives "40% of its parliamentary compensation to social activities," he added: "SYRIZA MPs will respond to the prime minister's appeal."

Reportedly, 36 of these 67 abstainers are newly elected whereas the rest are re-elected and theoretically are entitled to the same car, which they used during their previous mandates.

Among the MPs, who turned down the official car, are the Potami president, Stavros Theodorakis, and four MPs from his party - Panagiotis Karakatsoulis, Georgios Amiras, Antigoni Liberaki and Stavroula Andonakou, as well as the New Democracy MP Georgios Koumoutsakos. The newly elected SYRIZA MPs, Georgios Dimaras, Eleni Psarea and Moustafa Moustafa also gave up on the car.