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 Energy Minister Panos Skourletis described such a parliamentary vote
as "self-evident" following Friday's rebellion when almost a third
of Syriza deputies abstained or voted against the agreement.
With Syriza's left wing showing little sign of returning to the
party fold, Skourletis also raised the possibility of early
elections should Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras lose a confidence
motion. Tsipras had to rely on opposition support to get the bailout
deal through parliament, and another minister argued that elections
would be a way of achieving political stability.
Greece's political turmoil has raised uncertainty over how the
government will implement the bailout deal, which demands profound
economic reform and tough austerity policies, without a workable
majority.
The government has said its priority is to secure a start to funding
from international creditors under the bailout program, Greece's
third in five years, so that Athens can make a 3.2 billion euro debt
repayment to the European Central Bank on Thursday.
However, asked on Skai television about the possibility of a
parliamentary confidence vote after this, Skourletis said: "I
consider it self-evident after the deep wound in Syriza's
parliamentary group for there to be such a move."
Tsipras was elected only in January, but since then has had to ditch
his promises to reverse the budget cuts and tax increases that
previous governments imposed to satisfy Greece's euro zone and IMF
creditors.
Health Minister Panagiotis Kouroublis suggested that only another
election could calm the climate at a time of economic crisis and
show that the people would accept the onerous bailout program.
"Elections are not the best choice ... but for the economy to pick
up there must be political stability," he told Skai TV. "To
implement such a serious program with painful measures, you cannot
do that without a popular mandate."
SLIM CHANCE
Tsipras fired his last energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis for
joining a previous rebellion. Lafazanis now leads Syriza members who
oppose the conditions that Tsipras had to accept in return for the
86 billion euros ($95 billion) in loans.
Last week Lafazanis took a step toward breaking away from Syriza, a
coalition of the radical left, by calling for a new anti-bailout
movement.
The chances that the hard left wing will relent and rally behind
Tsipras in a confidence vote look slim.
"The bailout cannot be a unifying basis for Syriza," Stathis
Leoutsakos, a lawmaker who joined the rebellion told Skai TV. "The
bailout cannot be the program of Syriza, it falls outside its
values, these are incompatible notions."
However, a group of Syriza lawmakers called for the party to hold
together. "We recognize that unity has been dealt a serious blow,
but we refuse to accept a split as a pre-ordained fact," the 17
signatories said in a statement on the party's website.
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Alekos Flabouraris, minister of state and close adviser to Tsipras,
said he wanted all 162 lawmakers of the ruling coalition to support
a confidence vote. "It would be unfair for the government to be
brought down by its own deputies," he said.
On Sunday, Greece's socialist PASOK party joined the main
conservative opposition in saying it would not back Tsipras in any
confidence vote. PASOK made clear that while it had backed the
government over the bailout for the sake of saving Greece from
financial ruin, that support would not continue.
Once the dominant force on the Greek left, PASOK now has just 13
members in the 300 seat parliament but Tsipras will need all the
support he can get. Crucially, it did not say whether it would vote
against the government, or merely abstain.
On Friday, support for the government from within its own coalition
parties fell below 120 votes, the minimum needed to survive a
confidence vote if some others abstain.
The conservative New Democracy party, which has 76 seats, has also
said it would not back the government.
Tsipras has presided over the closure of Greek banks for three weeks
and severe limits on withdrawals from accounts remain, even though
the financial system only narrowly avoided collapse when the bailout
was agreed.
However, Tsipras is untainted by the corruption scandals that have
touched Greece's older parties and remains popular, although no
opinion polls have been published since the capital controls were
imposed at the end of June.
Tsipras's standing has raised doubts about how much the opposition
parties may want to force new elections.
Skourletis said that if Syriza opts for snap polls, the party would
aim for an absolute majority.
"I think such a goal is attainable," he said, playing down the
possibility of post-election collaboration with the likes of New
Democracy, PASOK or Potami, a pro-European centrist party.
(Writing by David Stamp; Editing by Andrew Heavens, John Stonestreet
and Giles Elgood)
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