Greece Is Holding Presidential Elections Next Week And There Are No Candidates Yet

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angela merkel antonis samaras

(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Greece is holding presidential elections in less than two weeks.

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And there are no candidates yet.

On Monday, Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras announced that Greece's presidential elections will be held on December 17, two months earlier than scheduled, according to a report from German news agency DPA (via Bloomberg).

The report said Greek officials made the move in order to bring "political clarity" to Greece.

If Greece does not elect a president on December 17, snap parliamentary elections will be called.

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DPA's report cited Samaras spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi, who said no candidates have been named yet.

According to headlines from Bloomberg, Syriza - the radical anti-bailout opposition party in Greece - said the Greek government doesn't have the votes needed to elect a president.

Also on Monday, a report from The Financial Times said that Greece and finance ministers in the eurozone agreed to extend Greece's bailout by two months after the government failed to adopt the economic reforms required to get the last of their rescue funds.

The FT's report added that Syriza has been leading public opinion surveys of late.

And so while the eurozone and the ECB deal with flagging economic growth and rapidly declining inflation, there might be political unrest in Greece for the economic bloc to deal with, too.

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