Syriza rebels form new party as election looms
REBELS from Greece’s governing left-wing Syriza are to break away and form a new party.
Prime minister Alexis Tsipras, the Syriza leader, stood down on Thursday, paving the way for new elections.
The move came after he lost the support of many of his own MPS in a vote on the country’s new bailout with European creditors earlier this month.
Greek media reports say 25 rebel Syriza MPS will join the new party, called Laiki Enotita (Popular Unity). It will be led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, who was strongly opposed to the bailout deal.
At a press conference in Athens, Mr Lafazanis said he was ready to respect the result of the referendum held in July, in which 61 per cent of Greeks said they would not support the terms of the bailout.
“If it is necessary for us to cancel the memorandum, we will follow the course of exiting the euro,” he said.
Syriza won 149 seats in Greece’s 300-seat parliament in the last election in January.
The conservative New Democracy party came second, with 76 seats, and the new Popular Unity party will now be the third largest in parliament.
Yesterday, New Democracy leader Vangelis Meimarakis met Greece’s president and he has three days to try to form a government. But observers say he does not have enough support and elections will be called.
If Mr Meimarakis fails to form a government, the chance will be given to the new party, analysts say, and then the far-right Golden Dawn.
They, too, are unlikely to be able to gain enough allies to establish a government. All parties can waive the right to negotiate and allow the president to approve a snap election.
Reports suggest the election – the fifth in six years – will be on 20 September.
Mr Meimarakis, however, has said he will try to use his mandate to form a government.
Dimitris Stratoulis, one of the new members of Popular Unity, said his party would also try to use the mandate and put a government together.