Left-wing leader rejects Greek austerity pledge

Nicholas Paphitis - Associated Press

Kostas Tsironis/AP
Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Greece's Radical Left Coalition party (SYRIZA) delivers a statement at the party's headquarters in Athens, Monday, May 7, 2012.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The head of a left-wing party opposed to the terms of Greece's bailout got the mandate Tuesday to try to form a new government after an election produced a stalemate in parliament.

Alexis Tsipras, the 38-year-old head of the Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, began coalition talks a day after conservative party leader Antonis Samaras failed to form a government.

Voters furious over years of painful budget cuts and higher taxes hammered Samaras' conservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK in Sunday's ballot. The two parties have dominated politics for the last four decades and had backed Greece's multibillion-dollar bailouts.

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May 08, 2012

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1. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 08, 2012 12:44 PM	Going to be interesting seeing what Tsipras does if he becomes PM, when the TROIKA withholds the next tranche of bailout funds because he refuses to abide by the pledge. Bombastic rhetoric confronts reality. LOL.

2. Niko Seretis wrote on May 08, 2012 10:15 PM	Tsipras has no solution if and when that will happen. Nice to see a fresh young voice but he' ll be no different than the others. His hands are tied .

3. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 08, 2012 11:10 PM	He's just a loud mouth, nothing else. I was hopeing to see new blood in Greek politics, but I'd much rather see a businessman or someone with some experience in the business world, not just another rabble rouser or professional mouth-flapper. This guy has no solutions for Greece, he's only tapping into anger at the polls. The TROIKA would slap him down like a rag doll, it'd be embarassing for Greece.

4. Niko Seretis wrote on May 09, 2012 10:57 AM	Agreed, the only reason he even made it this far is because the Greeks, with good reason, wanted to punish the other parties, which they did. Too bad their is never a businessman with good intentions for Greece ever on any of the ballots.

5. Nicholas Kostopoulos wrote on May 09, 2012 1:44 PM	If new elections are forced to be held, and the Golden Dawn takes the majority in the next election, it would be earth shattering for ND, Pasok, and the other fringe parties. It may finally truly change the the political landscape in the Greece government for the foreseeable future. Some with say for the worse, some for the better, but I have a open mind on it for now. Time will tell.

6. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 09, 2012 6:03 PM	ND and PASOK have only themselves to blame for whoring themselves out to anyone who'd support them politically. They brought on their own demise by their lies and corruption.

7. Argyrakis VAN wrote on May 13, 2012 8:48 AM	New Elections, New Problems, More costs, Same Result: Bankruptcy.
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Saturday, May 18, 2013 Last Update: 5:11 AM ET