Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the new Greek prime minister at 16.00 local time (14.00 GMT) on Monday before President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias at the presidential mansion in central Athens.

After being congratulated on his party’s victory by the president, Tsipras informed Papoulias that he had met earlier with Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, who aggreed on supporting the new government. “Therefore, the required majority in Parliament according to the Constitution is achieved and I hope that the existing majority of 162 deputies can become greater,” said the SYRIZA leader.

“There is nothing more for me to do but to give you the mandate to form a government, after I first swear you in,” the outgoing president replied.

It should be noted that Alexis Tsipras broke tradition by not being sworn in by the head of Greece’s Orthodox church, Archbishop Ieronymos, to whom he paid a courtesy call earlier on Monday.

Background

In the morning, the leader of the small, right-of-center Independent Greeks (AN.EL) party announced that his party’s elected MPs will give a vote of confidence to a SYRIZA government led by Tsipras.

AN.EL party leader Panos Kammenos made the statement before waiting television crews after a meeting with Alexis Tsipras.

“I want to announce that from this moment on, there is a government in the country. ANEL will give a vote of confidence to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The new premier will meet with the president to be sworn in, and will announce the government in detail. All details will be presented by the Prime Minister, including the governmental and ministerial composition. AN.EL and SYRIZA agreed on the principles over which the Greek people mandated.”

Kammenos, a former long-time ND deputy and one-time minister, did not disclose if any of his MPs will join the SYRIZA government Cabinet.