Alexis Tsipras has announced his resignation as Prime Minister of Greece after 206 turbulent days in power.The Syriza leader said in a televised announcement that he will submit his resignation to Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos shortly, triggering a national election.
Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, the head of Greece's Supreme Court is expected to replace Tsipras and oversee the elections as head of a caretaker government.
An earlier report from Reuters claims the election will take place on 20 September, citing an unnamed Greek official.
Tsipras lost the backing of many of his fellow Syriza MPs after agreeing to austerity measures to secure billions of pounds in bailout funds from Europe.
The European Central Bank today said that €3.4bn of Greek government bonds which matured today have been repaid, after the country received the first tranche of bailout money worth €13bn.
The Greek government agreed to widespread austerity measures, including pension reforms and public sector cuts to secure the cash and the country's membership of the European Union, however, Tsipras faced a rebellion by 43 of 149 Syriza MPs when the measures were voted through. This effectively lost him his parliamentary majority.
In his speech, Tsipras said the country had not secured the agreement it had wanted but the deal was the best one under the circumstances. Reported by City A.M. 3 hours ago.