Antonis Samaras: President Karolos Papoulias

Alexis Tsipras Dept: Following 40-minute talks Monday with conservative leader Antonis Samaras, the leader of the Radical Left Coalition, Alexis Tsipras, said the two parties' views were diametrically opposed. He demanded the cancellation of austerity measures many blame for deepening economic woes, according to CBC. Under rules outlined the mandate, given first to Samaras by President Karolos Papoulias, if the three-day timeline expires with no deal, the mandate will go to the second party for a further three days, and then to the third party. If no deal can be reached, the country will hold new elections in about a month and the leader of the runner-up party in Greece's national election has rejected a coalition with the winning conservative party, raising fears the fractured parliament won't be able to implement critical economic reforms agreed to under an international bailout deal. Samaras, who was given three days Monday in which to build a coalition or pass on the mandate to negotiate to Tsipras. The two were also meeting with the head of the third-place socialist PASOK, the only other clearly pro-bailout party. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.