Greek Prime Minister Tsipras quits

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has resigned, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in snap elections after 7 months in office in which he fought Greece’s creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in. Tsipras left his office at Maximos Mansion in Athens on Thursday (August 20). He submitted his resignation to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and asked for the earliest possible election date. a government official said Tsipras is due to meet senior advisers shortly to discuss whether to call early elections to quell a rebellion in his leftist Syriza party. Government officials said the aim was to hold the election on Sept 20, with Tsipras seeking to quell a rebellion in his leftist Syriza party and seal public support for the bailout program, Greece's third since 2010, that he negotiated. "The political mandate of the January 25 elections has exhausted its limits and now the Greek people have to have their say," Tsipras said in a televised address.
His decision to return to the ballot box deepens political uncertainty on the very day Greece began receiving funds under its 86 billion euro ($96 billion) bailout program with foreign creditors. But a snap election should allow Tsipras to capitalise on his popularity with Greek voters before the toughest parts of the program begin to bite, and may allow him to return to power in a stronger position without anti-bailout rebels in Syriza to slow him down, according to Reuters.
- biplab