Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Tuesday demanded his ministers' resignations to ease the formation of a new unity government, state television NET said.
Papandreou thanked the cabinet for their service and "asked the ministers to authorise him to further the procedures with their resignations," the station said.
The outgoing premier is now expected to request a meeting with head of state President Carolos Papoulias to submit his government's resignation, whereupon political chiefs will be summoned to help form a new administration, NET said.
Former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos still seems the favourite to be offered the job of interim prime minister, although a series of demands he made to take the job apparently prevented him from being named on Monday.
Media reports said that Papademos wanted to extend the new government's term to beyond February 19, a date tentatively set for a fresh round of elections, and appoint opposition conservatives to the new cabinet.
The names of two fall-back candidates were also circulating: 69-year-old European ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros and Greece's man at the IMF, 64-year-old former finance minister Panagiotis Roumeliotis.
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