Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced Thursday he was resigning and called for early parliamentary elections, resetting the debt-ridden country’s government after members of his own party opposed economic reforms that European lenders demanded for Greece’s latest bailout.
“With your vote, you will decide who … will lead Greece into this difficult but hopeful (path forward),” he said. “I will ask for the vote of the Greek people in order to govern and unfold our program.”
The announcement by Tsipras, who came to power only last January, comes a month after Parliament agreed to severe economic measures — such as raising certain sales taxes and overhauling the pension system — so that Greece could receive a fresh bailout worth as much as 86 billion euros ($95 billion).
The bailout, which helps prevent Greece’s exit from the euro currency, is the country’s third in roughly five years. Greece received the first installment of the latest bailout — 26 billion euros ($29.1 billion) — on Thursday. Athens in turn made a 3.2 billion euro ($3.6 billion) loan repayment to the European Central Bank.
Tsipras’ own left-wing Syriza party rallied against the reforms, but Tsipras and the Parliament accepted them in July as the country reached the brink of bankruptcy.
