Tsipras suggests party referendum to overcome split in SYRIZA

“I would be the last person to want elections, if I had the secured parliamentary majority to make it through to the end of the four-year term”, he said in an interview with Sto Kokkino radio station.

Roughly 200 members of Syriza’s decision-making central committee gathered at an old movie theatre in central Athens to decide whether to hold a regular, emergency congress or a referendum to redefine the party’s strategy.

“We are telling the Greek people, loud and clear and with no remorse, that this is the deal we managed to bring to them and if there is someone who thinks that they could have achieved a better deal, let them come out and say that”, he told the session that included dissenters like parliament speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou.

The ECB, which increased ELA by 900 million euros in each of the past two weeks, kept its cap at around 91 billion euros on Wednesday after the Bank of Greece defied some expectations and did not request another increase, indicating that banks are maintaining a cash buffer.

As the all-day Syriza meeting proceeded in a rare public session, party officials spoke openly of a widening rift between those who want the country to stay in the euro area despite painful sacrifices, and leftists who would prefer a return to the drachma currency.

“It is surreal to claim that I support the government, but I vote against its decisions”, he said.

EU/IMF envoys started bailout talks with the government in Athens this week.

“Despite his popularity, Tsipras is facing an uphill struggle to keep his party united and under his control”, he said in a note.

Teneo Intelligence analyst Wolfgango Piccoli said Syriza looks set to split into at least two groups – the leftwing hardliners and a moderate group led by Tsipras. “As a result, the risk of unforeseen intra-Syriza developments that could delay, and at worst derail, the ongoing talks between Athens and its worldwide creditors cannot be discarded”.

“But there is another view, which is respected, that doesn’t accept the government’s analysis and believes there was an alternative available in the early morning hours of July 13”, Tsipras said, referring to the day he accepted the bailout agreement to avoid a Greek euro zone exit.

In Wednesday’s interview, Tsipras accused other European countries of “taking revenge” on Greece for the referendum by forcing capital controls on the country.

The restrictions were eased July 20, but withdrawals and money transfers overseas remain limited.