Athens, (BLAZETRENDS). – Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, leader of the opposition and leftist Syriza, on Tuesday refused to accept the task of forming a new government after the “painful” debacle of his party in the legislative elections on Sunday.
“The correlation of political forces (in Parliament) does not allow the formation of a government,” Tsipras told the head of state, Katerina Sakelaropúlu, when she tried to hand over the mandate, as provided by law for the candidate of the second party more voted if the first attempt fails, something that happened yesterday.
Leaving the headquarters of the presidency, where the brief formal and live-televised ceremony took place, Tsipras admitted in front of the cameras that the result that emerged from the polls was “painful” and “a shock” for him.
Syriza got a second place
Syriza came in second with 20% of the vote, less than half the 40.8% achieved by the ruling New Democracy (ND), the prime minister, the conservative Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and also considerably less than what they had polls predicted.
Even together with the other two Greek leftist parties – the Socialists and the Communists – Syriza does not have the 151 of the 300 parliamentary seats needed to form a government.
But neither does ND, which is why Mitsotakis also refused to try to reach a pact with his rivals after receiving the corresponding order from the president on Monday, which he returned hours later.
an absolute majority
In doing so, he made it clear that he aspires to achieve an absolute majority to govern alone in new legislative sessions, by virtue of a bonus of up to 50 seats for the party with the most votes that will be introduced on that occasion.
The conservative politician said he expected these elections to be held on June 25.
Commission to form a government for the third political force
According to the law, the president now has to entrust the formation of a government to the leader of the third political force, the socialist Nikos Andrulakis, who also has no chance of achieving the objective.
Sakelaropúlu can finally make one last attempt by summoning the leaders of all political parties or immediately order the dissolution of Parliament, call new elections and name an interim Executive that will lead the country to the elections.
