Greek main opposition leader Tsipras steps down after election defeat

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Greece’s Alexis Tsipras on Thursday announced his resignation as the leader of the leftist main opposition SYRIZA party after a huge election defeat on Sunday.

“(June 25) election brought an end to a historical cycle. Now is the time to collectively open the next cycle,” he said in a news conference in the capital Athens.

Tsipras said he will lead the party until the new party congress, where new leadership is to be elected, is held.

The former Greek premier asserted that the party needs to confront its own weakness that led to the severe defeat in the election.

“I understand the need for a new wave of SYRIZA and decided to step aside to pass. I have decided to propose immediate recourse to the relevant procedures for the election of a new leader, in which of course I will not be a candidate,” Tsipras said.

He added: “The new SYRIZA is the immediate priority. This is about the quality of our democracy, the front against the extreme right and fascism.”

- June 25 election

In the national election held on Sunday that created the most right-wing parliament in the country since 1974, conservative New Democracy gained 40.55% of the votes and consequently secured 158 of the 300 seats in the parliament.

Though leftist SYRIZA led by Tsipras preserved its position as the main opposition party by coming second with 17.84% of the votes and 48 parliamentary seats, the results indicated a major defeat for the party, as confirmed by its leaders as well.

Social democratic PASOK party became third with 11.85% of the votes, which enabled it to secure 32 seats in the parliament.

The Communist Party of Greek (KKE), which has a strong presence in some major trade unions and working-class districts in Athens and the port city of Piraeus as well as some Aegean islands such as Ikaria, garnered 7.69% of the votes and earned 20 seats.

The Spartans party, which was openly backed by imprisoned lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris of the banned neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, won over 4.68% of the votes and entered the parliament for the first time with 12 seats.

Also, the far-right, populist Greek Solution party and the far-right, religious Niki (Victory) party were others that passed the 3% electoral threshold and entered the parliament, with 4.45% and 3.70%, respectively. They secured 12 and 10 parliamentary seats, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Sailing for Freedom party founded by former Parliament Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou secured eight seats in the parliament with 3.17%, while the MeRA25 led by Tsipras’ former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was unable to get into parliament with 2.46%.

The country’s 150,000-strong Turkish minority will be represented by four lawmakers, with two of them elected from SYRIZA, while two others from the PASOK lists.

The turnout rate in Sunday's elections was only 52.82%, down from 61.1% in the May elections.