Greek political leaders spar over snap election

The government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has accused parliamentary speaker Zoe Constantopoulou of “behaving like a dictator” after she branded the early election procedure “undemocratic and unconstitutional.” 

Tsipras resigned on Thursday, going on the offensive to defend the tough terms he accepted in the 86-billion-euro ($96 billion) rescue package which had triggered a rebellion in his radical-left Syriza 

party.

The mutiny scuppered his parliamentary majority and last week 25 of the rebels broke away to form a rival anti-bailout group called Popular Unity.

The head of state, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, is expected to name a caretaker government on August 28, and announce an election date.

Under the constitution, Pavlopoulos was obliged to invite the largest opposition parties to try and form a government before formally setting a date for elections.

The conservative New Democracy party was on Friday given a three-day exploratory mandate, but 

Tsipras today turned down a meeting with their leader Vangelis Meimarakis.

The procedure has no chance of success, as neither New Democracy nor Popular Unity can muster enough lawmakers for a parliamentary majority in the 300-seat chamber.

“There is no possibility of forming a government under the present parliament,” the government said in a note. The breakaway Syriza rebels will be next in line tomorrow.

But Constantopoulou, Greece’s youngest parliament speaker at 38, has accused the 65-year-old president of breaking the rules by skipping a parliamentary technicality in order to hasten the procedure.

The president, an esteemed professor of constitutional law had yesterday responded by dismissing her arguments as “legally baseless”.