Tsipras Meets Aides Amid Speculation Over Early Greek Elections

20-Aug (Bloomberg) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is meeting with members of his cabinet in Athens amid speculation that he is poised to call early elections in a bid to return to power with his authority strengthened.

Greek stocks and bonds dropped on Thursday as Tsipras met with allies to plan his next move after the approval of a bailout of 86 billion-euro ($96 billion) from the European Stability Mechanism rescue fund.

Tsipras, who was elected in January on an anti-austerity platform, approved sweeping economic overhauls attached to the bailout at the cost of seeing his own Syriza party split. A Greek government official said last week that Tsipras might hold a vote of confidence in his administration soon after the Aug. 20 deadline for a debt repayment, a move that could trigger early elections as soon as September.

The refusal of 44 Syriza party rebels to back the bailout in an Aug. 14 parliament vote meant Tsipras effectively lost his governing majority, Energy Minister Panagiotis Skourletis said in an ERT TV interview on Thursday. “There’s no getting around that,” he said.

Tsipras is seeking to shed unhelpful members of his own party before Greece faces an October review of progress in meeting the rescue terms and the need for more disbursements of international aid.

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