NEWS

Tsipras tells President Greece must hold snap elections

Tsipras tells President Greece must hold snap elections

Greece should hold a snap election to avert a protracted period of political uncertainty that could hurt its economic recovery, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told the country's president on Monday.

“I came here given that… the European elections… have created a situation of a protracted pre-election period of about four months. I have the responsibility to consider that this may pose a threat for the national economy,” he told Prokopis Pavlopoulos. 

“Given that we have entered into a virtuous circle, it must not in any way be affected, because that would mean that the sacrifices of the Greek people would be jeopardized. Having a full sense of this responsibility I ask you to dissolve Parliament and call for national elections to renew the mandate," he added.

Pavlopoulos said he accepted the government's proposal. 

Monday’s request from Tsipras and approval from Pavlopoulos were considered formalities. The president is then expected to issue a decree ordering the new vote and dissolving parliament.

Tsipras decided to pull general elections forward after his party suffered a heavy defeat at a European election last month.

The main opposition, the conservative New Democracy party, won that vote by 9.5 points.

The government has previously said it wants to hold general elections on July 7.

[Reuters, Kathimerini]

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