Tsipras to call for snap national elections

Following SYRIZA's disappointing results from the Euro-parliamentary and regional elections, Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his intention to meet with President Prokopios Pavlopoulos and ask for the dissolution of parliament and national elections, probably on June 30.

Tsipras said he took the country out of the fiscal adjustment programmes, and "we finally managed to stand up."

"We presented the Greek people with a plan for the day after, a relief plan for many, and a revival plan for the Greek economy. We courageously asked the Greek people for their confidence in our plan for relief measures, the restructuring of society and the country," he noted, so that nobody awaiting for an opportunity to take the country back to the dark past could do so.

"Although the electoral result solidified SYRIZA's position as leader in politics, it does not meet our expectations. It was never my habit to ignore this result; I never did and I will not ignore it now," he said.

"Greeks will decide what happens next," he said adding that "our devotion to the people is not a tactical choice, but a moral obligation, it is our soul, it is my soul," he underlined.

"Today's electoral result gives the main opposition the right to challenge the entire course of the exit from the crisis, and our relief plan for the Greek majority," Tsipras highlighted; "as a matter of fact they are already doing this."
Leading to his announcement of national elections, the premier said that "the final verdict always belongs to the people," and asserted he did not intend to shirk his responsibility, run away or give up on the struggle for equality, solidarity and social justice.

Tsipras said he would "sincerely ask the Greek people for a clear mandate" to implement his plan for the future. The future belongs to the many, and it is to these he addresses himself for support in the snap elections, the SYRIZA leader and prime minister stressed.