ATHENS (Reuters) -Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the leftist firebrand who stormed to power on an anti-austerity agenda at the peak of Greece's debt crisis in 2015, resigned as a parliamentary deputy on Monday, amid rumours that he is preparing to launch a new political party.
Tsipras became a global household name during Greece's fierce negotiations with international lenders over its third and final financial bailout, which ended in 2018. He was voted out of power in 2019, having been forced to accept the austerity he had campaigned against in opposition.
"I'm resigning as a member of parliament with the Syriza party, I am not resigning from political action," Tsipras said in a filmed statement. Addressing his former colleagues later, he said: "We will not be rivals. And perhaps soon we will travel together again to more beautiful seas."
Tsipras has not commented on his plans, but there has been local media speculation that he may return to politics, potentially posing another challenge to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government, whose popularity has dropped in the polls.
Tsipras stepped down as head of Syriza in 2023 following its second heavy election defeat to Mitsotakis' New Democracy party that came to power in 2019, after years of austerity fatigue and a bailout that critics said the country did not need.
His move led to the fragmentation of Syriza and the formation of new, smaller political parties. The Socialist PASOK party later took over as the main opposition.
"Tsipras' resignation today is the first decisive step in forming a new party," head of ALCO pollsters Costas Panagopoulos told Reuters. A September ALCO poll showed New Democracy, which has ruled out a snap election before its term ends in 2027, at 24% versus PASOK, seen at 11.5% and Syriza at 6.2%.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
