New Democracy (ND) president Antonis Samaras announced his resignation on Sunday evening in the wake of the landslide “no” vote in the same-day referendum .

The former prime minister said that ex-parliament president Vangelis Meimarakis will take over the post as a transitional party president until a party congress is convened to elect a new ND leader.

In a nationally televised address, Samaras began his comments with an appeal to the Tsipras government to seal an agreement with creditors in two days, saying it has the “exclusive responsibility” to do so — after causing the plebiscite in the first place.

He also warned that Sunday referendum result should absolutely not be interpreted in Europe as a “no” to Greece’s eurozone membership or even EU membership, “that would be a tragic mistake.” He reminded, as per opinion polls, that a vast majority of Greeks want the euro as their currency.

Samaras, who lost the election in January 2015 to Tsipras and his radical leftist SYRIZA, also called on the former to “isolate the elements in his party that want an exit from the euro”.

Moments before announcing his resignation, Samaras said a supreme wager is to now avoid any national “division” in the country”.