Greece news: How Tsipras is facing FIGHT to stay in power after EU election DISASTER

The Greek Prime Minister said he is “ready for battle” after calling for a snap election four days ago after a poor showing at the European level for his left-wing Syriza party. Centre-right opponents are making headway in Athens which means Alexis Tsipras is facing an uphill battle to remain in power. Mr Tsipras party Syriza lost to New Democracy in the 2019 European elections after suffering heavy defeats from voters at home and abroad. 

With 100 percent of the vote counted, the country’s interior minister has reported that 33.9 percent of the public cast ballots in favour of the centre-right New Democracy party, in contrast to the 15.3 percent for Syriza.

Voters abroad and at home overwhelmingly rejected the leftist leader meaning Alex Tsipras now has a herculean task confronting him as he attempts to win favour with Greeks.

Mr Tsipras was forced to announce the vote, four months ahead of schedule after Syriza lost to New Democracy by an unprecedented 9.3 percentage points – the widest margin of defeat ever in a European election in Greece.

A second round of local polls this weekend is expected to further the humiliating defeat for the party elected at the height of the country’s debt crisis on promises to reverse internationally mandated austerity.

Diaspora Greeks from America to Australia, who participated in the European poll, are believed to have been particularly negatively swayed by perceived concessions over Macedonia.

In exchange for the neighbouring country agreeing to change its name, the leftist government recognised a Macedonian language and ethnicity which left many enraged.

Although internationally welcomed and celebrated, the name-change deal was aggressively opposed by conservatives who saw it as a concession to appeal to nationalist voters globally.

Mr Tsipras has declared himself to be “ready for battle”, but it would be shocking if the party managed to gain the ground required to stay in power.

Syriza has lost 600,000 voters since the last general election in September 2015.

He described his uphill battle as a fight between progressive forces representing the many and old and outdated political establishments that brought Green to the brink of financial ruin.

The Greek Prime Minister is expected to meet the country’s head of state, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, on Monday, June 3, to formally request the dissolution of parliament in the run-up to the snap election.

No government in Greece has escaped the gruelling effects of an economic depression not seen since the return of democracy in 1974.

Like its predecessors, Syriza has been left fighting for support after enforcing policies it once pledged to repeal in return for bailout funds from the EU and IMF to shore up the insolvent economy.

But despite the 44-year-old leader managed to navigate the country’s exit from eight years of bailout oversight and saw a drop in levels of unemployment between 2013 and 2019, economic recovery has been slow.

This greatly escalated electorate anger towards the party and means the party now faces an uphill climb to remain in power.