Former Greek premier Antonis Samaras said the current leftist SYRIZA government has “fooled the people and will now clash with itself or with Greece’s partners”, speaking in his first television interview since his New Democracy party lost the Jan. 25 election by coming in second.

Samaras, who was sworn in as prime minister in June 2012 after forming a three-way coalition government, pointed to a recent statement by the alternate finance minister of “failure to pay wages and pensions” as bordering on default.

Nevertheless, he said he is personally not asking for snap election. “It would be comical for elections to take place two months after the last ones”, although he said he couldn’t rule out that the prospect of PM Alexis Tsipras calling an election to renew its mandate.

“If we go to election it will be an internal SYRIZA problem, and the government will bow to the (internal) faction that favors the drachma (exiting the euro zone),” he said, adding that any snap election or referendum will be on the question of “euro or drachma”. He said this bloc within the ruling party favors a return to the national currency despite the fact that 80 percent of respondents in most every poll favor the euro.

Finally, Samaras said the government will be obliged to sign a new memorandum.

The career politician (since the late 1980s) has also attracted sharp criticism from within his own party following a disastrous showing in January, although no rival has as yet come forward to officially challenge him for the party’s helm.

His interview was given on the private TV station Mega.