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Greece bank-deposit withdrawals accelerated this month after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras opened the way for snap national elections that risk severing the countrys lifeline in the euro area.

Net outflows in December totaled about 3 billion euros ($3.65 billion), according to four bankers who asked not to be named because the data are preliminary. Deposits in November fell by 222 million euros from the previous month to 164.3 billion euros, the Bank of Greece said yesterday in Athens.

The outflows also reflect seasonal expenses and increased tax liabilities, a Bank of Greece (TELL) official said, who also asked not to be named. A repeat of massive deposit flight that occurred during a Greek political stalemate in 2012 is unlikely and no major withdrawals were recorded in the past two weeks, according to Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis.

There is always a worry, but we dont think its as much of a major concern as it was two years ago, he said on Monday.

Greece will hold a Jan. 25 ballot after Samaras, whose New Democracy party has governed with the Socialist Pasok since mid-2012, failed to garner sufficient parliamentary backing for a new head of state. Polls show New Democracy and Pasok, Greeces two main parties over the past four decades, trailing the anti-austerity Syriza alliance, which includes members aligned at European Union level with former communists in countries such as Germany.

Greek bonds lost 7.62 percent in the last month, making them the worst performing of 34 sovereign securities tracked by Bloombergs World Bond Index. Greek stocks fell 14.8 percent in the last month, second worst only to Russia.

The early election will pit Syriza and the forces of radical change against a coalition of New Democracy and Pasok that is openly eurocentric and prefers reform to revolution, said Theodore Couloumbis, a professor of international relations at the University of Athens. We have a clear choice between emotion and rationality. And the outcome is anybodys guess.

The acceleration in bank withdrawals highlights the economic risk for Greece of altering political course after Samaras, 63, steered the country out of a six-year recession and toward a balanced budget.

Year on year, the deposit stock in November increased 2 percent, while in December 2013 there was a net deposit inflow of 2.35 billion euros from the previous month.

By pressing ahead with unpopular spending cuts, Samaras kept international aid flowing, ended a four-year Greek exile from bond markets and served notice that the country would exit its 240 billion-euro international rescue ahead of schedule.

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Greek Bank-Deposit Outflows Grow as Poll Looms