Athens, Greece (CNN) — Greek political parties stung by a wave of anti-austerity anger began trying to piece together a coalition government on Monday amid a reminder from the European Commission that the debt-ridden country should stick by its obligations.
“The commission hopes and expects that the future government of Greece will respect the engagements that Greece has entered into,” spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen told reporters.
The center-right New Democracy party finished first in the polling, but with just 19% of the vote, giving it 108 seats in Greece’s 300-seat parliament. Voters also delivered a rebuke to PASOK — New Democracy’s socialist partner in the outgoing coalition government — stripping the party of 119 seats.
Together, the parties fell short of the 50% necessary to continue the coalition, requiring formation of a new government.
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras met Monday with President Karolos Papoulias, and then with the leader of the leftist coalition Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, to discuss forming a coalition, according to the state-run ERT TV network.
But Tsipras issued a statement Monday saying his party would not enter a national unity government with New Democracy.
PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said after meeting with Samaras that his party would be willing to participate, but only in a coalition with a friendly view toward Europe led by a prime minister willing to renegotiate terms of the bailout deal with the European Commission.
Sunday’s election results were widely seen as a message to politicians to back away from the harsh economic austerity measures imposed in Greece.
“I asked for a strong mandate, but people chose differently. I respect their message,” Samaras said Sunday on state television. “Today’s result expresses people’s disappointment toward the implemented dead-end economic policy that tested their limits and didn’t include the necessary development policy.”
Tsipras called the results “a message of a peaceful revolution.”
“European leadership and especially (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel have to understand that austerity policies have suffered defeat,” Tsipras said.
Last year, Greece’s debt threatened to force it to drop Europe’s common currency, the euro, prompting the European Central Bank and other lenders to swoop in with emergency funding. In exchange, they demanded that the government slash spending.
The resulting measures have led to tax increases and cuts in jobs, wages, pensions and benefits — and significant public outcry.
The national unemployment rate for January, the latest month for which figures are available, was nearly 22%, prompting widespread protests and leading some young people to leave the country in search of work.
Furthermore, for the past two years, the country’s massive amount of debt has threatened the stability of the 17-country eurozone.
