Gov’t scrapes through no-confidence vote

Coalition holds together against opposition motion but loses one MP who defected

After more than two days of vehement debate in Parliament, the government yesterday survived a no-confidence vote brought against it by the main opposition New Democracy party, but with one less MP.

The motion garnered 127 votes with 153 against. The junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) backed the government despite its opposition to the name deal with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced last week, bar one MP, Dimitris Kammenos, who supported the motion. He was expelled from the party, reducing the government’s majority to 153.

Before the vote, protesters gathered for the second day in a row outside the House to oppose the deal.

Inside, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias submitted declassified ministry documents in a bid to compare the government’s negotiating tactics on the name issue to previous administrations.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras slammed the opposition for bringing the motion, remarking that “future historians will struggle to comprehend why, at such a positive moment for the country, ND chose to try and topple the government.”

ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared that “a vote against the motion of no confidence is a vote in favor of the Tsipras-Zaev agreement tomorrow,” referring to FYROM’s premier, Zoran Zaev. He referred to a “theater of hypocrisy.”

Tsipras’s coalition partner Panos Kammenos reiterated his party’s opposition to the name deal, saying ANEL will oppose it, when it comes to Parliament, “not just with our vote” but by any means possible.