Speaking to the SYRIZA parliamentary group on Wednesday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras mentioned the possibility of elections for the first time since his party won the September 2015 ballot.
Tsipras linked a possible failure of negotiations with lenders over the bailout program review and hinted that this might lead him to resort to early polls.
This came after main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, head of the conservative New Democracy repeated his call for snap elections, blaming the government for failure in restoring the economy and for having Greek society against him after the implementation of harsh austerity measures.
“In a possible failure of negotiations in the second evaluation, which could lead to an election, as New Democracy earnestly asks, such a possibility would be the perfect disaster for the economy,” Tsipras said in parliament, admitting indirectly that the impasse in discussions with lenders can generate new political developments.
While in previous days the prime minister and his cabinet were appearing very optimistic about the second bailout program evaluation and talks on debt relief, suddenly Tsipras started talking about the possibility of failure to agree with creditors on the prerequisites for the second review and subsequent loan tranches. The fact that creditors’ representatives left Athens without a staff level agreement means that negotiations are not progressing well for the Greek side.
Another hint that elections are in Tsipras’ mind is that he urged his cabinet and MPs to get out in the streets and get near Greek people and listen to their problems. Traditionally in Greece, such efforts to reach voters are signs that early elections are not out of the question.
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