Greek PM faces biggest party revolt yet as bailout approved
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced the widest rebellion yet from his leftist lawmakers as parliament approved a new bailout program on August 14, forcing him to consider a confidence vote that could pave the way for early elections.
After lawmakers bickered for much of the night on procedural matters, Tsipras comfortably won the vote on the country's third financial rescue by foreign creditors in five years thanks to support from pro-euro opposition parties.
That cleared the way for euro zone finance ministers to approve the deal totaling 86 billion euros ($95 billion) over three years. This they did on Friday evening, albeit with stringent conditions.
The vote laid bare the anger within Tsipras's leftist Syriza party at the austerity measures and reforms which he accepted in exchange for the bailout loans. Altogether 43 lawmakers - or nearly a third of Syriza deputies - voted against or abstained.
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The unexpectedly large contingent of dissenters, including former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, heaped pressure on Tsipras to clear the rebels swiftly from his party and call early elections in the hope of locking in popular support.
Tsipras remains hugely popular in Greece for trying to stand up to Germany's insistence on austerity before relenting under the threat of a euro zone exit. He would be expected to win again if snap polls were held now, given an opposition that is in disarray.
"I do not regret my decision to compromise," Tsipras said in parliament as he defended the bailout from euro zone and International Monetary Fund creditors. "We undertook the responsibility to stay alive over choosing suicide."
But the vote left the government with support from within its own coalition below the threshold of 120 votes in the 300-seat chamber, the minimum needed to command a majority and survive a confidence vote if others abstain.
In response, government officials said Tsipras was expected to call a confidence vote in parliament after Greece makes a debt payment to the European Central Bank on Aug. 20 - a move that could trigger the government's collapse and snap elections.
A senior lawmaker, Makis Voridis, from the opposition New Democracy said his party would vote against Tsipras's coalition, raising the odds it would be toppled.
Still, some of those who rebelled on August 14 could still opt to support the government in a confidence vote, as could other pro-European parties such as the centrist Potami and the center-left PASOK, leaving the final outcome unclear.