Turmoil in Greece as Samaras fails to forge a new government

Greece faces weeks of political turmoil that could scupper its financial bailout after voters angry at crippling income cuts punished mainstream politicians, let a far-right extremist group into Parliament and gave no party enough votes to govern alone.

On Sunday, Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras, whose pro-austerity party came first in national elections but fell well short of a governing majority, said he had failed to form a coalition government and had handed back the mandate to the country's president.

Samaras was given the first chance to form an administration by President Karolos Papoulias.

He said:

The mandate now goes to Alexis Tsipras, the 38-year-old head of the Radical Left Coalition party that came in second place in Sunday's election. Tsipras will have three days to seek a coalition.

It is expected that Papoulias will meet the Left Coalition leader, Alexis Tsipras, on Tuesday.

If Tsipras's talks fail, the party that came in third in Sunday's vote, the socialist PASOK headed by former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, will get the mandate for a further three days.

If none of the parties can form a governing alliance, new elections will have to be called.

Earlier, initial exploratory talks with Alexis Tsipras, the 38-year-old head of the second-placed Radical Left Coalition party, failed, increasing fears that Samaras - or anyone else - will be unable to forge a new government that will command a majority in Parliament.

Tsipras, who strongly opposes Greece's bailout commitments, said:

Later on, Samaras met the leader of the third party in order of vote percentage, Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos.

PASOK's leader suggested creating a national government amongst all the EU-friendly political parties, excluding the Communist party of Greece, and Nazi-friendly Golden Dawn.

He said the national government should mainly focus in the fact that Greece should remain in the eurozone, it should take growth measures for the country, as well as relief measures for the weak parts of the population, and finally set specific goals for itself.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Athens will still be expected to live up to its agreements and has urged Greece to continue with agreed reforms.

Speaking in Berlin, she said:

Official results showed conservative New Democracy came first with 18.85 % and 108 of Parliament's 300 seats.

Sunday's big winner was Tsipras' party, whose unprecedented second place with 16.78 % gives it 52 seat.

Disaffected voters deserted PASOK and New Democracy, the two mainstays of Greek politics, leaving them at their worst level since 1974, when Greece emerged from a seven-year dictatorship.

Instead, strong gains were registered by smaller parties, including the extremist Golden Dawn.

ITV News' Economics Editor Richard Edgar reports on the rising pressure on Greece.

In June, Athens is due to receive a 30 (b) billion euro (39.4 (b) billion US dollar) instalment of its rescue loans from the other countries in the 17-strong eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.

If aid is cut off, analysts at Commerzbank estimated, the country would have trouble paying its debts by autumn.