Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou survived a close confidence vote early Saturday morning. The vote was 153–145 for Papandreou.
Upon winning, Papandreou stated he may step aside if necessary. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos stated a new government would be formed to last until the end of February. Venizelos has been proposed as a interim Prime Minister to succeed Papandreou. 
Opposition leader Antonis Samaras demanded immediate elections. He stated, "The masks have fallen. Mr. Papandreou has rejected our proposals in their entirety. The responsibility he bears is huge. The only solution is elections." The confidence motion came about after Papandreou proposed a referendum on the Greek bailout plan. After fierce opposition from other European leaders, the referendum was scrapped on Thursday.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Greek PM survives confidence vote