Greece’s main opposition party demanded on Tuesday the dissolution of Parliament and immediate elections in three weeks’ time, Ekathimerini has reported.
Speaking at a press conference in Athens, Greece, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said his party will, effective immediately, be abstaining from all parliamentary procedures until Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a date for the general elections.
Tsipras said the conservative New Democracy government is “morally and politically compromised” and “cannot remain a moment longer.”
“We will not legitimise the legislative work of a government that is demonstrably… deviating from democracy,” the opposition leader told reporters.
Tsipras said the only exception to SYRIZA’s walkout will concern a bid to prevent the new far-right nationalist party founded by convicted former Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris from running in the elections.
The leftist leader’s demand has been swiftly rejected by the Mitsotakis government with spokesman Giannis Oikonomou accusing Tsipras of acting dangerously by “attempting to undermine [Greece’s] parliamentary system and constitutional order.”
Tsipras called the press conference a few days after the government survived a no-confidence motion submitted by SYRIZA over the Prime Minister’s handling of the wire-tapping scandal, with 156 New Democracy votes in the 300-seat House.
