ATHENS: The Greek coalition government defeated a no-confidence motion brought by the left-wing opposition party Syriza overnight Sunday, with most parliamentary deputies voting it down as expected.
Of the chamber's 300 deputies, 153 voted against the motion. A total of 124 parliamentarians voted for the measure including the members of three other opposition parties -- the communist KKE, the populist Independent Greeks and the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn.
One deputy from the socialist Pasok party voted against the coalition and was swiftly expelled from the party, which is part of the ruling coalition.
Syriza introduced the motion of no-confidence in the government on Thursday after Greek police cleared the former headquarters of the now-closed ERT state broadcaster of disgruntled employees who had been occupying it for five months.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras dismissed the confidence motion as a piece of political theatre, accusing the opposition party of endangering the stability that the country has been enjoying in recent months.
He reiterated that fresh elections would be held, as scheduled, in 2016.
Thousands of activists from Syriza, Greece's main left-wing opposition party, demonstrated against austerity measures on Sunday in Athens ahead of the vote.
Police estimated the crowd at 2,000 protesters, while journalists and organisers said 5,000 came out in the Greek capital to call for the government to stand down. Banners read: "Go now" and "No to austerity policies".
Syriza said the no-confidence motion against conservative Prime Minister Samaras's right-socialist coalition government was over its "catastrophic policies".
The government is considering new austerity measures with the troika of bailout lenders comprising the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank.
The debate on the no-confidence motion had begun on Friday and wound up at midnight on Sunday but it was always likely to be defeated due to the strength of the coalition and the lack of any major defections from its ranks.
ERT's closure in June sparked an international outcry and nearly brought down the coalition government in debt-laden Greece, which has been implementing painful public-sector restructuring in return for international bailout loans.
The government closed the broadcaster, with the loss of 2,600 jobs, as part of public service restructuring, saying that the former broadcaster was hopelessly bloated and ineffective.
Authorities intend to use the headquarters to house a new public broadcaster, named Nerit, due to start transmitting in 2014 after Greece takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency in January.
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