It’s Greece’s third bailout over five years.
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Tsipras’ own left-wing Syriza party rallied against the reforms, but Tsipras and the Parliament accepted them in July as the country reached the brink of bankruptcy.
Government officials said the aim was to hold the election on September 20, with Tsipras seeking to crush a rebellion in his leftist Syriza party and seal public support for the bailout program, Greece’s third since 2010, that he negotiated.
Members from Greece’s ruling Syriza party have chose to break away and form a new party, the media reported on Friday.
Greece’s conservative New Democracy party – the second largest party in parliament with 76 of 300 seats – undertaking a futile search for allies to create a government before new elections are formally called. Meimarakis has three days to seek coalition partners, after which the third largest party in Parliament would a chance for a further three days at most. Those 25 lawmakers, who will be called Popular Unity, are led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
The rescue was all that kept Greece from a disastrous exit from the euro but came with strict terms to cut spending and raise taxes – the very measures Tsipras had pledged to fight when he won elections in January.
Tsipras is to make a televised state address later on Thursday. About one in four Syriza lawmakers refused to back the bailout’s ratification in Parliament last week, which was only approved with backing from opposition parties.
Tsipras has insisted that although he disagrees with the conditions of the bailout terms, he had no choice but to accept and implement them to keep Greece in the euro, which the vast majority of Greeks want.
The political uncertainty is taking its toll on Greece’s stock market, with the Athens Stock Exchange down 0.5 percent in mid-day trading, after closing 3.5 percent down Thursday on election speculation.
Snap elections could allow Tsipras to capitalize on his popularity with Greek voters that he still maintains, according to numerous polls, giving him additional leverage to implement the toughest parts of the bailout agreement he negotiated with eurozone leaders.
“Now that this hard cycle has ended…”
German Finance Ministry spokesman Juerg Weissgerber said that if there were delays in implementation of the bailout agreement due to the elections, “then it would mean that the next payments are delayed too”.
He said that now that the country has secured its funding, he felt a “deep moral” obligation to lay his actions before the judgment of the Greek people.
Ironically, his wish to take the banks out of private hands has taken a step toward fulfillment under the bailout programs. We are obliged to observe this agreement, but at the same time we will do our utmost to minimize its negative consequences.
“He said he was forced to do so because a majority of Greeks wanted to stay in the eurozone, and this could not be achieved in any other way”.
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The government had to close the banks at the end of June for three weeks as panicking savers pulled out billions, and imposed capital controls strictly limiting withdrawals from the banking system.
