Greek PM repeats call to avoid snap election

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras urged lawmakers on Saturday to prevent the uncertainty of a snap general election by ensuring that a president is elected in a key vote in parliament next week. Speaking ahead of the third and decisive round of the vote to elect a successor to the 85 year-old head of state Karolos Papoulias, Samaras said a general election, which must be held if a new president cannot be appointed, was against the national interest. "The Greek people do not want early elections," he told state television in an interview. "I have done and I am doing everything to ensure a president is elected and snap elections are averted," he said. He repeated an invitation to other parties to cooperate in exchange for an agreement to hold elections late next year but offered few concrete details. However he said that if Greece does go to the polls, his centre-right New Democracy Party, which trails the leftwing anti-bailout party Syriza in the opinion polls, would win. "Even though elections would be convenient for me, I want to see the ship safely into port," he said. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; editing by James Mackenzie)