As Tsipras resigns, Vasiliki Tani Christoforou is the first woman Prime Minister of GreeceAthens, 21 August 2015 (MIA) - Greek Constitutional Court President Vasiliki Tani Christoforou assumed the role of interim Prime Minister, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday and called for early elections to be held in September, MIA correspondent in Athens reports.
Tani Christoforou is the first woman Prime Minister in Greece, which burnt through five of them during the last five years, since the country went bankrupt and turned to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for financial support.
"The political mandate of the 25 January elections has exhausted its limits and now the Greek people have to have their say", Tsipras said, announcing his resignation. He remains by far the most popular politician in the country and is expected to lead his SYRIZA party to a victory in the early elections, despite wrecking the economy in the short six months he was in office, causing a bank run and the imposition of capital controls that have choked the economy. But, Tsipras faced a serious rebellion from the farthest left members of SYRIZA, who are expected to form a new party, possibly even as the Parliament is still in office.
According to the Constitution, the leader of the second largest party, New Democracy's Evangelos Meimarakis, was given mandate to form a Government, and he said he will use the coming three days to try and avoid early elections. After that, the mandate moves to the next party in line, which might be either the newly formed splinter SYRIZA faction or the Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
As these attempts are expected to fail, Greece will hold early elections probably in late September.
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