Leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras was received by President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Monday, a day after his party won decisive and much easier than expected election victory.
Tsipras was given the customary mandate to form a government, which he is expected to achieve with the addition of the rightist-populist — and previously anti-memorandum — Independent Greeks’ (AN.EL) party. The usual process, namely, issuing an “exploratory mandate”, was bypassed, given that Tsipras has come to an understanding with AN.EL leader Panos Kammenos. The latter was his coalition partner in the previous seven-month government.
“It was a campaign battle that was conducted under conditions of (heightened) political culture. The Greek people were given the opportunity to make their conclusions,” Tsipras told Pavlopoulos.
His swearing-in ceremony will take place at 8 p.m. (18.00 GMT), while the new government will be sworn-in on Wednesday morning.
