Prokopis Pavlopoulos

Greeks began voting for a new government on Sunday, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for a snap poll following a big defeat at the European and local elections in June.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos will not sign a presidential decree green-lighting the appointment by the outgoing SYRIZA government of the new prosecutor and president of the Supreme Court, leaving the selection to the administration that will emerge after the July 7 snap election.

Members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas scattered fliers outside the Athens home of President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Wednesday afternoon, calling on Greeks to abstain from the July general elections or cast spoiled ballots.     According to police sources, the suspects scattered the leaflets while riding on four motorcycles down the street in the Athens neighborhood of Psychico where Pavlopo

As investigations get under way into claims by a top prosecutor that a government official sought to influence a probe into an alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss drugs firm Novartis, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces another headache over reports that President Prokopis Pavlopoulos plans not to approve his cabinet's nomination of a new Supreme Court leadership.

For all Greeks, the main news item on Monday was Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' visit to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos to request the dissolution of Parliament and to call a snap election.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made a grave mistake. He shunned the unanimous opinion of the country's constitutional experts. He defied the recommendation of senior officials.

The prospect that the first party may not garner an absolute parliamentary majority has preoccupied pundits and analysts for weeks, with most focusing on the possibility of a coalition government between New Democracy and the centre-left Movement for Change.

A presidential decree ordering the official dissolution of Parliament ahead of snap elections in Greece was posted at a wall at the entrance of the House on Tuesday afternoon.
The notice, posted by the House's head of security, confirms the date of the elections, July 7, and announces that the new Parliament will convene on July 17.

The presidential decree ordering the dissolution of Parliament ahead of early elections in Greece is expected to be posted by Tuesday afternoon in a notice at the House that will also contain the date of the snap polls, expected on July 7, as well as the date when the next Parliament is due to convene.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' meeting with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos this afternoon the result of which is the dissolution of Parliament and the proclamation of a general election for 7 July marks the formal start of the electoral campaign.

The prime minister's rationale for calling the snap election is the course of the Greek economy and the need to stabilise it.