Following a meeting of his top allies in his Syriza government, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras will announce his resignation and call for elections on September 20th, according to a report from Reuters which claimed a top government official. ERT state broadcaster also confirmed the news.
Tsipras is set to address the nation where he will announce his intention to resign at 8pm local Athens time and then hand in his resignation to Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
Tsipras faced a rebellion from within the ranks of his own leftist party after he negotiated for Greece’s recent bailouts from the European Union to stave off removal from the eurozone bloc of nations that use the euro as a common currency.
Last week, more than 40 hardline Syriza MPs rebelled and refused to back the bailout plan. That deprived Tsipras of his majority (his coalition hold 162 seats out of 300).
There are rumors circulating in Greek political circles that the members of the hard left movement of Syriza are announcing a new political party that will oppose the bailout and seek to reverse agreements with Europe. This movement is led by former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
A caretaker government will be installed until the elections are held, with Vassiliki Thanou, the 65-year-old president of the Greek Supreme Court taking over as prime minister until a new one is elected.
Despite not delivering on campaign promises, Syriza still maintains a lead in many Greek opinion polls.
Some recent #Greece opinion polls. Still giving Syriza a large lead albeit slipping slightly https://t.co/c721I0fQhJ pic.twitter.com/Otm3FIuT88
— Raoul Ruparel (@RaoulRuparel) August 20, 2015