Pasok movement in final attempt to form Greek govt.

PanARMENIAN.Net - The leader of Greece’s centre-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) Evangelos Venizelos began a last-gasp attempt to form a government on Thursday, May 10 but Greece seemed to be moving inexorably towards new elections after voters rejected an international bailout, plunging the country into crisis, Reuters reported.

Venizelos is the third and last political leader to attempt to form a government after Sunday's election, which left pro- and anti-bailout forces balanced almost equally.

Venizelos acknowledged he only had a slim chance in remarks to his parliamentary group, reduced to about a quarter of its former strength by elections in which voters punished his party and conservative New Democracy for imposing harsh austerity in exchange for a 130-billion-euro ($168-billion) EU/IMF bailout.

He said he would make every effort to form a coalition, or if not at least help the president try to find a unity government. That would be the last stage before new elections are called in three or four weeks.

Venizelos received a three-day mandate after radical Leftist Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras formally gave up his attempt, telling President Karolos Papoulias: "We did everything possible to form a government compatible with the popular vote, but that was not possible."

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, who finished first in the election, surrendered his effort within hours of receiving the first mandate on Monday.

As political efforts hit deadlock, new data underlined the depth of Greece's five-year recession, one of the worst in post-war Europe. The jobless rate hit a new record in February, showing one in five Greeks and one in two young people were out of work.

Young people are thought to have been a major component of the Left Coalition's success in the election, which took its vote from 5 percent in 2009 to nearly 17 percent, dislodging once mighty PASOK as the second party.