Greece's Tsipras snubs rival's unity plea in last pre-election debate

Athens: The leader of Greece`s leftist Syriza party, Alexis Tsipras, snubbed a plea on Monday from his conservative rival to join a coalition government, as they both made a play for undecided voters six days ahead of an election.

In the final televised debate between the two political heavyweights before Sunday`s ballot, New Democracy leader Vangelis Meimarakis said Greek voters sought the stability that would come if both parties worked together.

"We can have a national team not only in the governance of the country, but also a national negotiating team (concerning Greece`s bailout)," he said.

But with the two parties neck-and-neck in opinion polls, former prime minister Tsipras said a coalition with New Democracy would be unnatural, echoing comments he made in an interview on Sunday.

"We have fundamental differences and as such, we cannot co-exist," he said.

While it was prepared to ally with other, smaller parties if necessary, he believed Syriza would get close to winning an outright majority.