New Greek poll looms as government efforts founder

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Greece's two mainstream parties rejected a coalition led by radical leftist Alexis Tsipras, forcing the country closer to having to re-run Sunday's inconclusive election that saw voters overwhelmingly reject its EU/IMF bailout.

The election, in which Greeks vented rage over economic hardship and deserted the mainstream parties that negotiated the bailout, left an intractable political deadlock and triggered threats from Europe to eject Greece from the euro.

The conservative New Democracy and Socialist PASOK parties, which between them dominated Greek politics for decades and jointly negotiated last year's 130 billion euro bailout, received less than a third of votes and fell two seats short of a majority needed to form a government.

Greek finance ministry officials have warned the country might run out of cash by the end of June if it does not have a government in place to negotiate a next aid tranche.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/09/us-greece-idUSBRE8440DG20120509