Tsipras holds last campaign rally

Left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras told thousands of supporters at his final campaign rally that Sunday’s general election was an opportunity for them to bury the corrupt political elite who sank Greece into a years-long financial crisis.

Speaking in Athens’ main Syntagma Square, the former prime minister urged voters to seize a historic opportunity. “Turning back would mean to return to a course of 40 years that piled debts on Greeks,” he said.

Tsipras has ruled out forming a grand coalition with Vangelis Meimarakis’ conservative New Democracy party, despite a commitment from both leaders to implement the new $97-billion international bailout agreement.

Tsipras resigned as prime minister and called the early election last month after reaching an agreement with eurozone creditors for a third bailout for Greece, a move that triggered a split within his party and saw his huge lead in opinion polls evaporate.