Greece to form new government, reports say

It took a while, but Greece will soon have a new government.

Antonis Samaras, whose conservative New Democracy party won Sunday's elections, will be sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

New Democracy, the PASOK party and the Democratic Left party have agreed to form the new, pro-bailout coalition, which is expected to be officially set later Wednesday after Samaras meets with President Karolos Papoulias.

Greece has not had an elected government in 223 days, CNN points out.

"Greece has a government," PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said. "That is the message that we need to send abroad."

The radical-left Syriza party, which finished second in Sunday's vote, will go into opposition. Syriza opposes the economic bailout.

Party leaders met in Athens on Monday and Tuesday to discuss a possible coalition.

[Slideshow: Greek elections]

"There should be government of national salvation with as many parties as possible," Samaras said Monday.

Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the Democratic Left party, emerged from the talks saying they would back the coalition. But Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, who met with Samaras on Monday, said he would not.

The parties are still discussing the new government's policy platform and who will be given cabinet positions, reports The Associated Press.

The New Democracy party received about 30 percent of Sunday's vote, while the socialist PASOK party took 12.3 percent—giving the pro-bailout parties a majority and 161 seats in the 300-seat parliament. Syriza came in second with 27 percent.

World financial market analysts closely watched the elections in Greece, worried by its failing economy, with some fearing an "economic tsunami" if the country abandoned the eurozone. But Sunday's vote calmed those fears, at least temporarily.

"The Greek people voted today to stay on the European course and remain in the eurozone," Samaras said in a victory speech on Sunday. "There will be no more adventures—Greece's place in Europe will not be put in doubt."

"It looks like we've avoided the worst-case scenario," Darren Williams, a London-based European economist, told The New York Times. "I think that's important, because we could have gone to a very bad place very quickly."