[LATIMES] Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation Thursday and called for elections in the wake of a bruising political battle over austerity measures demanded by the nation’s creditors.Tsipras campaigns on what people want, does what he needed to do, takes heat, bows out...
The president of the nation's supreme court, Vasiliki Thanou-Christophilou, will take over as prime minister in a caretaker government until the elections, in keeping with the constitution. She will be Greece’s first female prime minister.
“The popular mandate I received on Jan. 25 has surpassed its limits, and now the people have to have their voices heard anew,” Tsipras said in a nationally televised address. “With your vote you will decide who will lead Greece, and how, on the difficult road that lies ahead.”
The snap elections, called for Sept. 20, will be the third for debt-weary Greeks this year. Tsipras came to power in January at the head of an anti-austerity campaign, forming a coalition government with the Independent Greeks, a nationalist party.
On July 5, Greeks voted in a referendum on the terms of a third bailout from creditors. More than 60% of voters rejected the deal, only to have Tsipras switch positions and agree last week to a $96-billion bailout with the nation's creditors that kept Greece in the Eurozone and headed off the nation’s probable default on international loans.
The prime minister has been in a difficult spot since he signed off on the bailout package. The extreme left wing of his own radical-left party, Syriza, has mounted a revolt. Led by former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, the rebels have been criticizing the prime minister for breaking his campaign promises.