Greek PM Alexis Tsipras resigns, calls for elections in September

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras resigns, calls for elections in September

FP Archives August 21, 2015, 08:19:08 IST

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has proposed calling an early election in the crisis-hit country on 20 September, the ANA news agency said on Thursday.

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Greek PM Alexis Tsipras resigns, calls for elections in September

Athens: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has proposed calling an early election in the crisis-hit country on 20 September, the ANA news agency said on Thursday, citing government sources.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras. Reuters

The hard-left leader is expected to make the announcement in an address to the nation before going to see President Prokopis Pavlopoulos to submit his government’s resignation, the agency said.

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Tsipras has been under mounting pressure to call early elections because of rifts in his own Syriza party over a massive new bailout deal with Greece’s international creditors.

Greece repaid a 3.4 billion euro ($3.8 billion) debt to the European Central Bank on Thursday, effectively starting its third loans-for-reforms package in five years.

Tsipras rode to power in January on a wave of popular anger against the tax hikes, spending cuts and reforms demanded by creditors in exchange for two previous bailouts costing 240 billion euros.

But he has faced a major rebellion in Syriza, with almost a third of its MPs opposed to the latest round of creditor-imposed austerity, either voting against or abstaining in the most recent parliamentary vote on the 86-billion-euro ($96-billion) deal.

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AFP

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