Greek government survives no-confidence vote over wiretaps

By ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s government has survived, as expected, a no-confidence vote following a motion by the country’s opposition leader over a wiretapping scandal that has stung the center-right governing party in the run-up to elections. Of parliament’s 300 members, 143 voted Friday in favor of the no-confidence motion while 156 voted against. One was absent. The vote followed a heated three-day parliamentary debate. Main opposition Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras said Wednesday when he filed the motion that it would force Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to answer publicly about the scandal, in which a series of high-ranking politicians, government ministers and military officers were reportedly under surveillance.