Greece crisis: Opposition gets chance to form government
Greece crisis: Syriza rebels 'to form new party'
(35 minutes later)
Greece's opposition leader is to be given the chance to form a new government, a day after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned having secured a third bailout with creditors.
Rebels from Greece's main party, left-wing Syriza, are to break away and form a new party, Greek media reports say.
After meeting Greece's president, the head of conservative New Democracy party, Vangelis Meimarakis, will be given three days to form a government.
Prime minister and Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras stood down on Thursday, paving the way for new elections.
Observers say he does not have enough support and elections will be called.
The move came after he lost the support of many of his own MPs in a vote on the country's new bailout with European creditors earlier this month.
Reports suggest the election will be called for 20 September.
Greek media reports say 25 rebel Syriza MPs will join the new party, called Leiki Anotita (Popular Unity).
If Mr Meimarakis fails to form a government, the chance to do so will fall to the far-right Golden Dawn party, who finished third in January's elections with 6.3% of the vote.
The party will be led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, who was strongly opposed to the bailout deal, reports say.
They, too, are unlikely to be able to gain enough allies to establish a government.
A list of MPs joining the party published by the Ta Nea newspaper showed that the parliamentary speaker Zoe Konstantopulou and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis were not among its members.
Both parties can waive the right to negotiate and allow the president to approve a snap election. But reports in Greek media said Mr Meimarakis would try and use his mandate to form a government in the next few days.
Both had opposed a new bailout deal, with Ms Konstantopulou highly critical of her former ally Mr Tsipras.
Mr Tsipras will lead his leftist Syriza party into the polls, but he has faced a rebellion by some members angry at the bailout's austerity measures.
He had to agree to painful state sector cuts, including far-reaching pension reforms, in exchange for the bailout - and keeping Greece in the eurozone.
Greece received the first €13bn ($14.5bn) tranche of the bailout on Thursday after it was approved by relevant European parliaments.
It allowed Greece to repay a €3.2bn debt to the European Central Bank and avoid a messy default.
The overall bailout package is worth about €86bn over three years.
'I want to be honest'
Alexis Tsipras made the announcement in a televised state address on Thursday.
"The political mandate of the 25 January elections has exhausted its limits and now the Greek people have to have their say," he said.
"I want to be honest with you. We did not achieve the agreement we expected before the January elections."
Mr Tsipras said he would seek the Greek people's approval to continue his government's programme.
Greece will be run by a caretaker government ahead of the polls.
