He also appealed for lawmakers to hold the current Parliament together so as not to interrupt the process of a constitutional review, saying that general elections could then be scheduled "even by the end of 2015."

This first time the premier has conceded that elections could take place before June 2016, when the coalition government's four-year term expires. Samaras also stressed the need for negotiations with the country's international creditors to be wrapped up before any polls take place, saying that "we cannot be swamped in an electoral battle right now."

"Let us complete the negotiation and the constitutional reform and then we can find the timetable for elections even by the end of 2015."

Launching an attack on main opposition SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras and the leader of the Independent Greeks, Panos Kammenos - the latter in relation to claims by a party deputy, Pavlos Haikalis, that he had been offered a bribe to back the government's candidate - Samaras said "this unfounded string of accusations about the bribing of deputies, which are always proven untrue, cannot continue."

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

The strip, which is to be operated by the island’s port authority, will be able to serve Greece’s first fleet of hydroplanes and improve connections between the island and mainland Greece.

The aim of the initiative is to boost tourism on the Ionian islands. Authorities hope to follow up with several more hydroplane strips on other islands in the Ionian and beyond.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

Amongst those who voted negative, apart from the opposition parties’ parliamentary groups (SYRIZA, ANEL, KKE, DIMAR and Golden Dawn) were independent MPs Byron Polidoras, Vassilis Kapernaros, Petros Tatsopoulos, Mimis Androulakis, Niki Founta, Vassilis Oikonomou, Chrysoula Giatagana, Panagiotis Melas, Rachel Makri, Theodoros Parastratidis, Markos Bolaris, Theodora Tzakri and Giannis Kourakos, some of whom were expected to vote in favor of Dimas. Emerging from the Parliament after the procedure’s completion, Melas underlined that on the remaining two ballots, he might change his vote and vote “Yes.”

Absent on the first ballot was ANEL’s Kostas Giovanopoulos, whose absence is considered meaningful, as it might leave the possibility open to vote in favor of Dimas in the following ballots. Also absent were the two former Golden Dawn MPs, Stathis Boukouras and Chrysovalantis Alexopoulos, who were expected to vote “Yes,” independent MP Giorgos Kasapidis, who earlier today lost his father and was also expected to vote in favor of the new President, and SYRIZA MP Anna Chatzisofia.

To read more, please visit greekreporter.com

By Aggelos Skordas

Five MPs, including two former Golden Dawn deputies, were absent. Four of the absentees were independents, one from SYRIZA.

The next ballot will be held at noon on Tuesday. The threshold will be 200 votes again. It will fall to 180 for the final ballot on December 29.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

The vote will take place this Wednesday, December 17, at 7 p.m. and so far only about 10 parliamentarians outside the coalition have said they will back the government's candidate, Stavros Dimas. This has led many government sources to suggest that 165 MPs will be a good starting point for this Wednesday' s vote, secretly hoping the support could get to 170.

The coalition needs a two-thirds supermajority majority – equivalent to 200 MPs out of the 300-member assembly – for its candidate, Stavros Dimas, to be elected in the first round. If it fails to do so, a second round will be held after five days, on December 23, also requiring 200 votes. A third and final round of voting will be held on December 29, but this time the required majority will drop to 180 lawmakers, which is the government's target.

If the presidential elections fails, the parliament has to be dissolved within ten days and a snap election will be held as early as 25 January or 1 February. So far opinion polls suggest the snap election would be won by main opposition party Syriza.

To read more, please visit thetoc.gr/eng

By Anna Zarifi