--- description: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is going to call for a new election to be held September title: Greek Prime Minister Calls Early Election image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbc19ca8eeacb6a3/6988603ecd1bba5a1a6fcd40/alexis-tsipras-greek-prime-minister.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Greek Prime Minister Resigns, Calls Early Election  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 2:42 AM CUTPublished: Aug 20, 2015 4:16 PM CUT  Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on Aug. 14, 2015. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on Aug. 14, 2015.Yiannis Liakos—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 2:42 AM CUTPublished: Aug 20, 2015 4:16 PM CUT Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is going to call for a new election to be held September 20, according to multiple media reports. Tsipras announced his resignation Thursday. > [](https://twitter.com/PrimeministerGR/status/634420367759679489) An English translation of the tweet reads: Soon I will travel to the President of the Republic to submit my resignation and the resignation of the government. #Greece [The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/world/europe/greek-prime-minister-alexis-tsipras-to-call-new-elections-minister-says.html?emc=edit%5Fna%5F20150820&nlid=55232055&ref=cta&%5Fr=0 "undefined") reports that an interim government will be put in place after Tsipras steps down until the snap election is held. Tsipras had been expected to call for a confidence vote as his leftwing Syriza party was split over the terms of a $95 billion bailout deal with its European creditors, with many lawmakers voting against the bailout. The German parliament approved the bailout Wednesday, and Greece [made a bond payment](https://twitter.com/ecb/status/634391158735654912 "undefined") due Thursday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4004983/alexis-tspiras-greece-resign-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4004983/alexis-tspiras-greece-resign-election/"},"headline":"Greek Prime Minister Resigns, Calls Early Election","datePublished":"2015-08-20T16:16:53.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T02:42:37.000Z","description":"Alexis Tsipras will reportedly step down before snap election due to be held Sept. 20","url":"https://time.com/4004983/alexis-tspiras-greece-resign-election/","keywords":["Greece"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbc19ca8eeacb6a3/6988603ecd1bba5a1a6fcd40/alexis-tsipras-greek-prime-minister.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbc19ca8eeacb6a3/6988603ecd1bba5a1a6fcd40/alexis-tsipras-greek-prime-minister.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Alexis Tsipras - Greek Prime Minister","caption":"Alexis Tsipras - Greek Prime Minister","creditText":"Yiannis Liakos—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4004983/alexis-tspiras-greece-resign-election/","name":"Greek Prime Minister Resigns, Calls Early Election"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Reform Proposal","description":"Eurozone leaders fearing for the future of their common currency gave the Greek prime minister a last-minute chance Tuesday to finally come up with a viable proposal on how to save his country from financial ruin.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DdH7zGIS/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-08T02:11:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DdH7zGIS.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4004983/alexis-tspiras-greece-resign-election/","duration":"PT36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4004983/alexis-tspiras-greece-resign-election/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```