Greece's political system appeared on Friday to be in meltdown with several resignations from the cabinet.
The trend started on Thursday evening. Yannis Koutsoukos, socialist MP and Deputy Labour Minister, resigned after it was revealed that the Labour Housing Organisation would be disbanded, which was a major area of his jurisdiction.He has said he will not vote for austerity measures on Sunday night.
A second socialist member of parliament, Pavlos Stasinos, resigned on Friday morning. He was followed by a third in the evening, socialist MP and Alternate Foreign Minister Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou.She too says she cannot sign onto the austerity measures.
Shortly after, Deputy Defence Minister G. Georgiou also resigned.He is not a member of parliament.
The most bizarre news of the day, however, was the stance assumed by LAOS, the right-wing coalition member. Its leader, Yiorgos Karatzaferis, said his MPs would not vote for the austerirty measures he participated in drafting and approving, along with socialist leader Yiorgos Papandreou and conservative leader Antonis Samaras. Inscrutably, though, he expressed continued support for Prime Minister Loukas Papademos.
The muddled position forced.LAOS' four cabinet members to resign. Two of them will vote for the austerity measures, but two will not.
A number of MPs from socialist Pasok and LAOS has also declared they will not vote for the measures, or for certain measures.
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