World

A left-wing party opposed to the terms of Greece's bailout agreements will on Tuesday try to form a government after a general election produced a stalemate in parliament.

The Radical Left Coalition, led by Alexis Tsipras, is to formally receive a mandate to form a government, and get three days to try and hammer out a power-sharing deal.

The party came a surprise second place in Sunday's election, after campaigning hard on a pledge to scrap bailout agreements that have kept the country afloat but also brought in harsh austerity measures. Greece is in its fifth year of recession and unemployment has spiked to over 20 percent.

Election winner, the conservative New Democracy, had first stab at forming a government on Monday but failed to find enough support from other parties.

Failure to reach a deal this week would trigger another general election in June, raising fears that Greece's painful deficit-cutting program, along with Europe's troubled efforts to resolve its debt crisis, could be thrown off track.

Shares were hammered by nearly 7 percent on the Athens Stock Exchange Monday, and were down a further 1.3 percent by midday trading Tuesday.

The government, however, managed to raise ñ1.3 billion ($1.69 billion) in a debt auction Tuesday with short-term borrowing costs continuing to creep up. It sold six-month treasury bills at an interest rate of 4.69 percent, compared with a 4.55 percent rate at an auction last month.