PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos was Thursday set to become the third Greek politician to try and form a coalition government following failed attempts by candidates from the country's two biggest parties, according to dpa. The head of the socialist grouping was expected to receive a three-day mandate from the president at 1 pm (1100 GMT). The move follows failed attempts Wednesday by Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left - or SYRIZA, to win support for the country's first left-wing led government. A similar attempt to form a government by the biggest party to emerge from the May 6 elections, the conservative New Democracy party, also hit a brick wall earlier this week. Tsipras' demand that a SYRIZA-led government should reject the country's international bailout provoked a backlash from the other two main parties, New Democracy and PASOK, who argued that such a move would push Greece out of the eurozone. Greek voters punished both big parties for their handling of the financial crisis, with the country in a fifth year of recession and suffering record unemployment. If Venizelos is also unsuccessful, the president will then call all party leaders together in a final effort to reach consensus. If those efforts also fail, new elections will be held in June.
