In an interview to Alpha TV station, Thursday night, leader of major opposition party New Democracy (ND) Evangelos Meimarakis was blunt in his criticism against outgoing Greek PM Alexis Tsipras. ‘The guy is bailing’, Meimarakis said in no uncertain terms referring to Tsipras’s decision to call early elections.

‘He signed the agreement. Why is he dragging us to elections?’, asked Meimarakis. He underlined that no-one can convincingly explain the reasons Greece is going to elections during this critical period for the country. In a highly ironic manner Meimarakis accused Tsipras of disappearing, wondering how anchorman Antonis Shroiter, who had interviewed the Greek PM Wednesday night, had managed to get hold of him. He said: ‘Tsipras has vanished for the past 6-7 days. Fortunately you (Alpha TV) have Mrs. Nikolouli (a show host who finds disappeared people)’.

The leader of ND said regardless of which party wins, the agreement with Greece’s creditors will have to be honored. Commenting on his party’s chances of coming first in the September 20 elections, he said that  ND was the most solid political force in the country, ‘SYRIZA is nowhere’, he added. He blasted the Greek government’s inertia regarding the immigration crisis, accusing Tsipras of essentially inviting large numbers of refugees to Greece by doing nothing at all.