The Greek government believes it will win a confidence vote on Friday and will hold a referendum on an EU aid deal as planned, a spokesman said after several ruling party members asked for snap elections instead.

We believe the government will once again win a vote of confidence in order to proceed with its plans, Angelos Tolkas told reporters while Prime Minister George Papandreou was chairing a cabinet meeting.

The Greek government faced possible collapse on Tuesday as ruling party lawmakers demanded Papandreou resign for throwing the nation's euro membership into jeopardy with a shock call for a referendum.

We will not back down on anything we have to do to save the country, Tolkas said.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Ingrid Melander)

Elections