Greek premier resigns, paving way for elections

Greece will go to the polls next month after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday evening.

The bailout came after month of tough negotiations between the Tsipras government and European officials, as Athens wrestled for more favorable terms.

The Syriza Labour Minister, George Katrougalos, said that the government needed to “reconfirm its mandate” to implement the third Greek bailout and that the party is “crippled by a number of dissident Mps”.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has had “repeated phone calls” with Tsipras and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and, as such, “we expected it”, Breidthardt told a press briefing.

Greece’s complex constitution has special stipulations for holding elections less than 12 months after the previous vote, meaning the president must first consult other major parties to see if they can form a government, a highly unlikely option.

The popular mandate Tsipras received in the general election on January 25 “has run its course”, he said, acknowledging that the deal Athens reached with Greece’s creditors was not what he wanted, but the best he could get.

Mr Tsipras, who was only elected in January this year, said that now that the country has secured its funding, he felt a deep moral obligation to lay his actions before the judgment of the Greek people.

Without the bailout, Greece faced defaulting on its debts and crashing out of Europe’s joint currency.

ING Bank’s Paolo Pizzoli said Mr Tsipras was deliberately challenging opponents within Syriza, adding that should he fail to win an outright majority, any coalition would be likely to have a pro-bailout stance.

The list of rebel MPs joining the party, published by the Ta Nea newspaper showed that parliamentary speaker Zoe Konstantopolou and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis were not among its members.

By opting for a quick election, Tsipras can cash in on his still-high personal popularity ratings before voters are hit by the full impact of the additional austerity measures that are a condition of the worldwide aid.

“I wish to be fully frank with you”.

“Now the Greek people need to have their say”, Tsipras said.

A poll conducted among 1,251 Germans by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen institute for ZDF television between August 18 and 20 and released Friday showed that 62 per cent of Germans oppose the Greek bailout, compared with 49 per cent in July.