Ongoing economic issues bring Greek snap election

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called a snap general election after his ruling Syriza party suffered heavy defeat in the European Parliament ballot last month.

Tsipras said the nation had "entered a prolonged pre-election period from the day after the European elections". He added: "I believe this could presage risks for the smooth course of the economy … endangering the virtuous circle we have entered and the sacrifices the Greek people have made."

The prime minister on Monday met with the nation's head of state, President Prokopios Pavlopoulos, to make the request for national elections to be held. Pavlopoulos approved the request immediately and will now issue a decree to dissolve the current parliament ahead of the national vote scheduled for July 7.

Tsipras's four-year term doesn't officially end until October. However, Kyriakos Mitsotakis's New Democracy party walloped Syriza in the European Union poll, winning by 9 percentage points. It left Tsipras little choice but to call a snap ballot.

Opinion polls indicate that New Democracy (ND) could win the election by a similar margin and be able to form a government on its own, though it could plausibly fall short of a majority and need to form a coalition, depending on the performance of smaller parties.

Syriza's former coalition partner the right-wing independent Greeks, also known as Anel, announced it would not contest the snap election. Anel picked up just 0.8 percent of the European Parliament election vote.

Tsipras on Monday opened Syriza's election campaign, stating the program will focus on labor issues, tax-relief and social welfare policies. It promises to boost the minimum wage, currently at 650 euros ($735), by 7.5 percent, create 500,000 new jobs and reduce the lowest income tax rate by 20 percent.

The Syriza government has inevitably lost support in the face of continuing austerity, according to Richard Pine, a columnist who writes on Greek affairs for Kathimerini, a Greek daily newspaper, and for The Irish Times.

"The major indictment against Tsipras is that he has failed to honour his commitments to the EU and IMF: the radical measures they demanded in order to reboot the economy have largely gone unheeded, resulting in credibility fatigue," Pine wrote in The Irish Times on Monday.

"In 2015 Syriza and Tsipras offered reasons for optimism: reforms, transparency in government, reduction of the national debt and the elimination of the austerity program.

"Successive governments of ND and Pasok had allowed a financial crisis to develop, partly due to the perceived need to westernise not only the economy but also Greek society itself.

"None of the party leaders can actually offer any realistic programme to alleviate the economic crisis which remains central to most people's lives.

"While the electorate may smile more on Mitsotakis than on Tsipras, Greece's economic situation will remain dire for the foreseeable future."