Greek president dissolves new parliament, announces fresh elections on June 25

ATHENS

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou has dissolved the new parliament and announced new elections set for June 25, local media reported on Monday.

Under a decree, which was also signed by caretaker Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas and Cabinet ministers, the next time parliament will convene is on July 3, following the fresh polls, said the state-run AMNA news agency.

The last elections, held on May 21, were inconclusive, with the ruling the New Democracy (ND) party winning 40.79% or the vote – a plurality, but not enough to form a single-party government, as ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis hoped to do.

The next day Mitsotakis returned the mandate to form a government, saying he wanted fresh polls for New Democracy to form a single-party government.

Last Tuesday, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition SYRIZA party, and Nikos Androulakis, leader of the social-democratic PASOK, also turned down the mandate, saying they could not form a coalition government.

On Wednesday, Ioannis Sarmas, former head of the Court of Audit, was sworn in as the caretaker prime minister until the next elections.