ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

The leader of Greece's anti-bailout Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party on Friday (May 11) said he would not join a national unity government with Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, who has been holding talks with various parties in the hope of forming a coalition.

Alexis Tsipras's party is against the bailout agreement which the previous coalition government of Venizelos and the conservatives signed up to with the European Union and IMF.

Tsipiras said after talks with Venizelos that it was not his party which was rejecting the proposal but the Greek people who had done so with their votes on Sunday.

SYRIZA came a surprising second in last Sunday's elections as the public punished the socialists and conservatives for the bailout agreement which brought tough austerity measures.

Failure to form a national unity government means Venizelos will be returning the mandate to the country's President Karolos Papoulias on Saturday (May 12).

Papoulias will make a final attempt to form a government during a meeting he will chair with the parties in the coming days. If this also fails then new elections are announced.