A solemn-looking Alexis Tsipras told ruling party cadres on Monday afternoon that “we received voters’ message of dissatisfaction”, referring to the previous day’s European Parliament election results, which showed his leftist party falling behind main opposition New Democracy (ND) by as much as 9.5 percentage points.
In yet another address that was televised live, and in its entirety, by the state broadcaster (ERT), Tsipras told members of SYRIZA’s central committee and election commission that the result is “…below our expectations… not only for us, but for the thousands of citizens that backed us. We lost a battle, but we have the war before us.”
Tsipras on Sunday evening announced that he would resign and request from the president of the republic to declare a snap election, with the two probable dates being June 30 and July 7, 2019.
In repeated statements before Sunday’s European Parliament election, Tsipras and practically all of SYRIZA’s top ministers and cadres maintained that they would exhaust the four-year mandate “to the very last day”, i.e. mid-October 2019.
