Greek PM resigns; calls September elections

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Greek PM says he will resign; calls Sept. elections Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, faced with a revolt in his party over his tough, unpopular bailout program, said Thursday he will resign and call early elections for September.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, faced with a revolt in his party over his acceptance of unpopular bailout measures, resigned Thursday called early elections in September.

Tsipras said on national television that his ruling mandate has "exhausted its limit and now people must decide anew."

Although he defended his negotiations with other eurozone countries as securing the 86 billion euros ($96 billion) in rescue funds, Tsipras said he felt a “deep moral” obligation to lay his actions before the judgment of the Greek people.

The prime minister formally submitted his resignation to the country's president Thursday, clearing the way for elections next month; most likely on Sept. 20. Until the elections, Greece will be run by a caretaker government.

The 41-year-old prime minister had campaigned against the bailouts in the last parliamentary elections, but then accepted the latest plan, which mandates tax increases and spending cuts to avoid a collapse of the country's banking system. He had been weighing his options after last week's parliament vote to approve the bailout conditions led to a large portion of his own left-wing Syriza party voting against the government on the deal.

“The certainty is that the need for elections has arisen,” Energy and Environment Minister Panos Skourletis said on state television Thursday.

Skourletis said there are two reasons for snap polls, which would come just nine months after the government came to power. The first is that dozens of Tsipras’ governing Syriza party lawmakers voted against the government on the bailout. The government “has lost its majority (in parliament) — one can’t avoid this,” Skourletis said.

The second reason was that Syriza is part of a government that needs to implement a program that is different to that which it was elected for.

Meanwhile, Greece received on Thursday the first 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) from the new bailout package, allowing it to pay a debt of 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) to the European Central Bank and avoid a messy default. The ECB confirmed Greece made the payment Thursday.

Missing the payment would have raised new questions about the country’s ability to remain in the eurozone, an economic bloc comprised of 19 countries. The funds were earmarked for repaying debts and for settling arrears to public sector suppliers.

Contributing: Associated Press