Greek PM Alexis Tsipras on Thursday evening announced that he will call snap elections next month, a more-or-less expected development given the failure this month by more than a quarter of his ruling SYRIZA party’s MPs to back a third memorandum his government brought to parliament for approval.
The decision means a third visit to the polls for Greek citizens in 2015, after another snap election in January and a controversial referendum on July 6 over conditions of an agreement tabled a week earlier by international creditors.
Sept. 13 or 20 are seen as the likely dates.
A coalition government has been in place since the Jan. 25 election, comprised of radical leftist SYRIZA and the populist-rightist Independent Greeks’ party (AN.EL).
SYRIZA came up one deputy shy of a majority 150 MPs in Greece’s 300-member Parliament during the January election.
The highlights of Tsipras’ address:
— “A circle has closed; I have decided the resignation of the government”
— “The popular mandate I received on Jan. 25 has reached its limits; you (voters) with your vote will decide if the agreement that we achieved will contain the guarantees to exit the memorandums”
— “I assure you that I will not surrender the shield of the ideas of anyone, and I call on you to give together the difficult battle to resurrect our homeland…”
— “I offer myself to your judgment, proud and calm with my conscience. We negotiated hard; we resisted pressure and blackmail. We reached, and this is the truth, our limits; the idea that an end to austerity is gaining ground, and we in Greece … played a leading role”
— “The battle against corruption and vested interests has just begun. The battle against tax evasion, for a fair tax system; all of these things require a clear mandate, a strong government, stable and without veering course.”
— “We did not achieve the agreement we hoped for. In this battle we made concessions. But with the situation we inherited, this agreement was the best we could achieve,” he said, reeling off what he called the benefits of the deal with creditors.
— “The new loan agreement is not a colonial-style (deal) but is characterized by European law; and finally, for the first time and in a categorical manner, the way in which a reduction in the (external) debt was achieved.”
