Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday suddenly called for a new election and resigned his post, just weeks after he negotiated the latest eurozone bailout of his debt-ridden country.
According to Reuters, officials were hoping to hold elections on Sept. 20. In a televised address, Tsipras said the mandate he has from his election in January as “exhausted its limits,” and that people “have to have their say” on the direction of the country.
The election comes at a time when the Greek crisis had seemingly calmed down from its chaotic height in early July. Tsipras’s agreement with its European creditors temporarily halted the prospect of Greece leaving the eurozone or European Union, but the latest Greek bailout put Tsipras in hot water with the left flank of his own party, Syriza, or the Coalition of the Radical Left.
Syriza is considered more anti-capitalist in orientation than traditional socialist or social democratic parties that flourish in Europe, but do not meaningfully exist in the United States.
Tsipras’s agreement with Europe has been seen as capitulation, and an abdication of a campaign pledge to halt what is known as “austerity” — cuts in the public sector and pensions meant to help pay down government debt.
The election announcement creates the prospect of a new, permanent prime minister in Greece. The hardline Left Platform of Syriza, which is committed to tearing up the deal with Europe, could prevail. Alternatively, the center-right, capitalist party New Democracy, which governed Greece until January 2015, could win; such a result would likely be hailed in much of the West.
Tsipras could win a majority and return to power, or only win a plurality and be forced to “coalition” with another party, possibly New Democracy, or perhaps even a radical party like Golden Dawn, which has alleged ties and sympathies to Nazism. The latter result would likely rattle the West.
The election announcement comes on the same day Greece made a payment to the European Central Bank, and received a new aid package from the eurozone. The New York Times reported that this package is being criticized, however, because it will mostly be used to repay debt rather than rebuild the Greek economy, which languishes under economic conditions similar to or worse than the Great Depression.
President Obama and the administration have been coy about their preferences for a new leader in Greece, but Obama did call Tsipras to congratulate him on his ascension to Prime Minister in January. Some American economists like Joseph Stiglitz have ties to ministers in Greece, and have spoken unfavorably about the morality of the European debt reduction demands.
