Far-left rebels in Greece’s Syriza party have broken away to form a new party with 25 MPs, a parliament deputy speaker announced on Friday.
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Tsipiras has called for snap polls to counter a rebellion against his acceptance of a massive bailout plan for his debt-ridden nation.
The opposition has little chance of uniting and forming a government so quickly, meaning that after more than five years of a worsening financial crisis, Greece is headed for its fifth national election in six years.
The Greek constitution requires the country’s president to ask for the second largest party to attempt to form a government, if a government resigns within one year of election.
In a live televised address, Tsipras said that he would see Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos to hand in his resignation, confirming publicly what had been expected in past days, that Greeks would be called again to the polls in fresh elections.
The election will bring unwelcome levels of political uncertainty, and there has already been a detrimental impact on the Greek Stock Exchange.
Tsipras has been contemplating his options after a parliament vote to approve the bailout conditions led to dozens of his own party lawmakers voting against him. “We need to know whether the government has or does not have a majority”, he told state TV channel ERT.
The resignation comes after a divide within the governing left-wing party over the terms of the country’s latest bailout.
The European Commission said it was not anxious about the implementation of the Greek bailout programme, under which Athens must carry out economic reforms in return for aid.
In addition, some media commentators argued that the elections may prove a positive step to clear the political landscape and lead to a new, more stable, coalition government that will meet Greece’s bailout commitments without further turmoil.
Tsipras had delayed a decision on whether to call new elections until after Greece received the first installment from the bailout and made a debt repayment to the European Central Bank, both of which it did Thursday.
He acknowledged Thursday the bailout deal was not what his government had wanted.
The widely expected move is likely to mean elections next month, but there are fears it could slow progress on controversial reforms agreed by the debt-laden country with creditors as part of the rescue.
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Mr Tsipras quit yesterday, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in a snap election, after seven months in office, in which he fought Greece’s creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in.
