Greek President dissolves Congress and holds general elections in early July

The radical left-wing coalition (Syriza) led by Tsipras lost in the European Parliament elections in May, 9.5 percentage points behind the opposition New Democracy party. After pleading guilty to the defeat, Tsipras demanded the early dissolution of the Congress, which had expired in October, to re-elect the general election. Tsipras has said that he hopes that the general election will be held on July 7 to avoid a prolonged election period. He is worried that the long election period may damage the economic progress made in the past few years.

Tsipras, 44, succumbed to austerity policies in Greek politics six years ago. However, after leading the radical left-wing coalition in 2015, Tsipras succumbed to EU pressure and signed a third round of financial bailout agreements involving austerity measures. In August 2018, the international community’s third round of financial aid for Greece ended, and Greece received about 280 billion euros in borrowings, resulting in a plan for economic adjustment.