Under Greek political rules, a minority government must always be above to rely on at least 120 votes, but only 118 MPs from the alliance between Syriza and ANEL (the right-wing nationalist Independent Greeks) voted in favour of the bailout reforms.
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Mr Tsipras was elected seven months ago on a promise to overturn Greece’s crippling austerity measures, but faced strong opposition in his Syriza party over the plans Europe forced on the country.
President Prokopis Pavlopoulos had already invited conservative leader Vangelis Meimarakis by email to try to form a new government without the need for a new election, which would be the third in as many years.
Members from Greece’s ruling Syriza party have chose to break away and form a new party, the media reported on Friday. Tsipras and his radical left Syriza party came to power in January promising to scrap such spending cuts and tax hikes.
Seemingly small details of daily life will also be affected by the new rules, from visits to the doctor to an extension of the expiry dates on pasteurized milk in supermarkets.
The government has long been rumored to be considering such action, but had said its priority was getting the first bailout installment and making a debt repayment to the European Central Bank, both of which it did Thursday.
The remaining money of an initial 23-billion-euro tranche would be paid at a later stage, the government said, with the overall aid package approved by the eurozone’s finance ministers and national parliaments amounting to 86 billion euros.
After 18 hours of negotiations, culminating six months of wider talks, Tsipras obliged Greece to accept painful reforms and privatisations in return for staying in the euro.
Now that the country has secured its funding, Mr Tsipras said that he felt obliged to let the Greek people evaluate his work.
At that point, Parliament will be dissolved and a caretaker government appointed to lead the country to early elections within a month.
The other option is to delay the vote till October, after worldwide creditors have reviewed Greece’s performance in keeping to the bailout programme.
Mr Tsipras hopes a second Syriza victory in the upcoming election – which will likely be held on 20 September – will seal public support for the bailout package, and quell the backlash from party rebels.
Bailout opponents argue Greece is in a debt trap and that policy makers are bending euro-area rules to hold the currency union together.
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Announcing his resignation, Mr Tsipras acknowledged his record had been patchy.
