OPPONENTS of Alexis Tsipras, the former Greek prime minister, are fighting to delay his drive for a snap general election so as to give time for planned tax rises to hit popular support for his ruling Syriza party.
Tsipras, by submitting his resignation on Thursday, had hoped to trigger a general election to be held on September 20 or 27. But the date has not been finalised as opposition leaders have asserted their right to try to form an alternative government.
Evangelos Meimarakis, the opposition leader who heads the centre-right New Democracy party, accepted a three-day mandate from the president on Friday to form a new government.
Despite having almost no chance of forming a coalition — New Democracy has only 75 MPs in the 300-seat parliament — Meimarakis has held consultations with smaller parties.
Should New Democracy fail, it will then be the turn of rebels from Tsipras’s Syriza party, who have left to join the Popular Unity party set up on Friday by the former cabinet minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
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Hefty property and income tax bills, raised under the terms of the latest eurozone-backed bailout of the Greek economy, are due to be sent out at the end of September. A new wave of additional belt-tightening measures — notably pension cuts, VAT rises on the tourist-dependent Aegean islands and tax increases for farmers — will follow in October.
Tsipras’s approval rating hovered around 60% in the last available polls, but he is known to fear that the additional taxes could deal a blow to his popularity.
As the stalemate over the date of the election drags on, the ranks of defectors from Syriza seems set to swell.
Yanis Varoufakis, the maverick former finance minister, will announce tomorrow the establishment of a pan-European left-wing alliance that is unlikely to be formally linked to Syriza.
Meanwhile, Zoe Konstantopoulou, the hardline Speaker of parliament who is vehemently opposed to the bailout, has held a series of meetings with political leaders as she accuses Tsipras of sidestepping parliamentary procedures in his push for an election.
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“Ms Konstantopoulou is like a rottweiler that will grab for power wherever it can be found and will not let go,” said Antonis Papagiannidis, an Athens-based political analyst.
“Mr Varoufakis is either running scared or preparing for something new and extravagant. He will either hide or pounce.”