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| Syriza Dissenters Form New Party in Greece | Syriza Dissenters Form New Party in Greece |
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| ATHENS — Just hours after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece called early elections, 25 members of his governing Syriza party announced a breakaway anti-austerity movement on Friday, while the main conservative opposition said it would try to avert elections by forming a government. | ATHENS — Just hours after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece called early elections, 25 members of his governing Syriza party announced a breakaway anti-austerity movement on Friday, while the main conservative opposition said it would try to avert elections by forming a government. |
| The initiatives were likely to thwart the efforts of Mr. Tsipras, whose resignation on Thursday was a calculated move to consolidate his grip on power and press ahead with overhauls required by Greece’s third bailout, to hold elections as quickly as possible. | The initiatives were likely to thwart the efforts of Mr. Tsipras, whose resignation on Thursday was a calculated move to consolidate his grip on power and press ahead with overhauls required by Greece’s third bailout, to hold elections as quickly as possible. |
| The election, initially proposed for Sept. 20, could be moved to the end of that month or to early October if all of the country’s major political players exploit their right, under the Greek Constitution, to try to form a government. | The election, initially proposed for Sept. 20, could be moved to the end of that month or to early October if all of the country’s major political players exploit their right, under the Greek Constitution, to try to form a government. |
| Twenty-five Syriza lawmakers announced the formation of a party, Popular Unity, in a letter to Parliament on Friday, declaring that they intended to “remain true to our pre-election promises.” They were referring to the general elections in January, which brought Syriza to power on a pledge that it would roll back years of austerity measures, a promise Mr. Tsipras went back on. | Twenty-five Syriza lawmakers announced the formation of a party, Popular Unity, in a letter to Parliament on Friday, declaring that they intended to “remain true to our pre-election promises.” They were referring to the general elections in January, which brought Syriza to power on a pledge that it would roll back years of austerity measures, a promise Mr. Tsipras went back on. |
| Syriza was left on Friday with 124 lawmakers in the 300-seat Parliament, but local news reports speculated that four more legislators were preparing to abandon the party. | Syriza was left on Friday with 124 lawmakers in the 300-seat Parliament, but local news reports speculated that four more legislators were preparing to abandon the party. |
| Popular Unity will be led by a former energy minister, Panagiotis Lafazanis, the leader of Syriza’s radical Left Platform faction, with which about 40 of Syriza’s lawmakers were loosely aligned. | Popular Unity will be led by a former energy minister, Panagiotis Lafazanis, the leader of Syriza’s radical Left Platform faction, with which about 40 of Syriza’s lawmakers were loosely aligned. |
| In a televised news conference, Mr. Lafazanis said his new movement would offer “a realistic alternative” to austerity. He said the main goals would be to “cancel” Greece’s bailout agreements and to write down the country’s debt, which Mr. Tsipras had supported before the January elections that brought Syriza to power. | |
| Mr. Lafazanis, who has lobbied for a return to the drachma, was unfazed by the possibility that canceling the bailout deals would require Greece to abandon the euro. “Any exit would be orderly,” he said, adding that the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, “cannot determine our fate.” | |
| Popular Unity, now the third-largest party in Parliament, would use its mandate to try and form a government, Mr. Lafazanis said, by reaching out to all “progressive” forces that have not endorsed austerity. | |
| “The ‘no’ of the referendum will not be an orphan in these elections,” he said. “We will try to express the spirit and substance of the 62 percent who voted no to austerity.” | |
| The Constitution gives the three largest parties in Greece three days each to explore possible alliances after a government’s resignation. | The Constitution gives the three largest parties in Greece three days each to explore possible alliances after a government’s resignation. |
| Mr. Tsipras passed, as expected, but Vangelis Meimarakis, the leader of his main political rival, the conservative New Democracy party, said he would use that right. | Mr. Tsipras passed, as expected, but Vangelis Meimarakis, the leader of his main political rival, the conservative New Democracy party, said he would use that right. |
| “We are trying to find solutions,” Mr. Meimarakis said after speaking with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos. | “We are trying to find solutions,” Mr. Meimarakis said after speaking with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos. |
| Referring to an “unprecedented, extremely complex political landscape,” he indicated that he would explore all avenues, suggesting that he would accept the current deputy prime minister, Yannis Dragasakis, a Syriza moderate, as the leader of a “unity government.” | Referring to an “unprecedented, extremely complex political landscape,” he indicated that he would explore all avenues, suggesting that he would accept the current deputy prime minister, Yannis Dragasakis, a Syriza moderate, as the leader of a “unity government.” |
| Mr. Meimarakis met later on Friday with Zoe Konstantopoulou, the speaker of Parliament and another Syriza dissenter. | |
| Mr. Meimarakis’s initiative may be more of an effort to frustrate Mr. Tsipras than to actually form a government. With 76 legislators in Parliament, New Democracy would have to gain the support of virtually every party other than Syriza to form a government, including the Communists and the neofascist party Golden Dawn. | Mr. Meimarakis’s initiative may be more of an effort to frustrate Mr. Tsipras than to actually form a government. With 76 legislators in Parliament, New Democracy would have to gain the support of virtually every party other than Syriza to form a government, including the Communists and the neofascist party Golden Dawn. |