REUTERS/Stefanos Rapines
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras is reportedly resigning and Greece will hold snap elections on September 20.
According to Reuters, which cites a Greek government official, Tsipras will hand in his resignation on Thursday. Reuters added that Greece is likely to hold snap elections on September 20.
And so less than a year after Greece's left-wing Syriza party and its new prime minister Alexis Tsipras were voted into power, we've got a new Greek election coming up in September.
Tsipras is set to make an address later on Thursday.
Greek newspaper Kathimerini had earlier reported that elections would likely be announced on Thursday.
This latest round of elections come as Syriza has splintered following the passage of Greece's latest bailout package.
That package, worth €86 billion, is contingent on a new set of reforms from the Greek government, including tax increases and spending cuts. Earlier this week, Greece got the first €13 billion of its package for debt repayments and settlements of public sector payments that were in arrears.
In the background of Greece's latest bailout, however, is the IMF, which has so far said it will wait until at least October to determine whether it will participate in this package.
As Reuters reported on Thursday, German lawmakers have insisted that the IMF participate in this package, though the IMF made clear in a July report that it thinks Greece needs debt reform, something Germany — the most influential of Greece's European creditors — has strictly opposed.
Back in July, Greek voters voted against a new bailout package, but eventually the government gave in to demands from its European creditors, causing a divide in Syriza, which currently controls Greek parliament.
But as Kathimerini wrote on Thursday, "votes in parliament to pass the stringent austerity measures laid bare a revolt by nearly a third of SYRIZA lawmakers, forcing Tsipras to rely on opposition support and robbing him of a guaranteed parliamentary majority."
This post will be updated as new developments roll in.
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