Tsipras resigns, paving way for snap Greek election

[FrodosPet]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/20/us-eurozone-greece-resignation-idUSKCN0QP1Q820150820

Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:26pm EDT

BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND MICHELE KAMBAS

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in snap elections after seven months in office in which he fought Greece's creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in.

Tsipras submitted his resignation to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and asked for the earliest possible election date.

Government officials said the aim was to hold the election on Sept. 20, with Tsipras seeking to crush a rebellion in his leftist Syriza party and seal public support for the bailout program, Greece's third since 2010, that he negotiated.

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But a snap election should allow Tsipras to capitalize on his popularity with voters before the toughest parts of the latest program - including further pension cuts, more value-added tax increases and a "solidarity" tax on incomes - begin to bite. This may allow him to return to power in a stronger position without anti-bailout rebels in Syriza to slow him down.

~ snip ~

[Fred Sanders]

1. Syriza will return to government with a fresh mandate and a quelled left wing.

One month election campaign season, which does not favor the rich.