France vows to work with new Greek government

Forty-four members of the governing coalition voted against cuts put forward by Tspiras last week, all of whom sided with the left wing of his SYRIZA party.

Constantopoulou, whose father was a former head of Syriza’s precursor party Synaspismos – and was a Greek presidential candidate a decade ago – vehemently opposed the third EU bailout Tsipras signed on July 13 and repeatedly sought to frustrate its ratification through stalling tactics.

The new party will be the third-largest in the 300-seat Hellenic Parliament – at least until election day.

Tsipras was to make an announcement on Thursday night, another government official said, while he was expected to also visit the country’s president – a necessary formality in calling early elections.

Greece’s president gave the conservative opposition a chance to form a new government, but the effort is unlikely to prove successful and Greeks are expected to go to the polls for the second time this year on 20 September.

The government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has accused parliamentary speaker Zoe Constantopoulou of “behaving like a dictator” after she branded the early election procedure “undemocratic and unconstitutional”. I feel the deep moral, political obligation to submit to your judgment.

Mr Tsipras is hoping he will be returned to power with a more centrist party and a stronger mandate to implement the terms of the bail-out, despite them being the type of measures he had promised to fight when he was elected in January. The EconoTimes content received through this service is the intellectual property of EconoTimes or its third party suppliers.

The political uncertainty is taking its toll on Greece’s stock market, with the Athens Stock Exchange down 1.6 per cent in mid-day trading, after closing 3.5 per cent down Thursday on election speculation. “We will continue to express the spirit and substance of the 62 percent who voted “no” to bailouts and a big “yes” to an independent, sovereign, progressive and just Greece”, he said.

Here is a look at what comes next for Greece and what the elections mean for the bailout, the 86 billion euro ($95 billion) package of loans that is keeping the country solvent and part of Europe’s joint currency, the euro. Voters will decide whether to support him and the new agreement.

Many Greeks tired after months of turmoil that included a three-week shutdown of banks and the imposition of capital controls responded with wariness and anxiety.