Greece leaves behind five years of humiliation and suffering, fear and authoritarianism, said the leader of the winning Syriza party, Alexis Tsipras. He’s moving on Monday to build a government and plans to get rid of Athens’ three main creditors .
Tsipras was addressing thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in Athens. Syriza swept to a stunning victory in the country’s elections on Sunday – but looked like falling agonizingly short of an outright majority.
With more than 90% of the results in, official interior ministry results put Alexis Tsipras’s party on 36%, eight points clear of their chief rivals, the conservative New Democracy of outgoing prime minister Antonis Samaras, on 28%.The leader expects to be sworn in as the country’s PM on Monday. By Wednesday he will have a government in place, a Syriza official told Reuters .
On Monday, Syriza managed to gain key support to form a new government after the meeting with Panos Kammenos, the head of the anti-austerity party Independent Greeks, which also opposes Greece's bailout deal. Kammenos said his party would back Tsipras to be the next prime minister .
"From this moment there is a government in the country. The Independent Greeks give a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. There is an agreement in principle," Panos Kammenos said after talks with the Syriza leader, as cited by Reuters .