ATHENS: A decade after his notorious clash with Greece’s international creditors, former leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras is back — with a new party in a political scene fragmenting under the weight of scandals and income malaise.
In a speech in Athens late Tuesday, the 51-year-old said he was returning after months on the sidelines “to restore trust where disappointment prevails today.”
Tsipras said his new party, Greek Left Alliance (ELAS), sought to “end the authoritarianism (and) corruption that are the hallmark of today’s government.”
Greece, he argued, “needs a shock of integrity and democracy,” after years of rule by conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Greece’s youngest prime minister in 150 years, Tsipras came to power in 2015 promising to eliminate austerity. He clashed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund, to which Greece owed money, almost crashing the country out of the euro.
