Syriza poll scheduled for Sunday

(Vatican Radio)  Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras today called for a poll of his ruling Syriza party to decide the correctness of his decision to agree to a third bailout.

Listen to John Carr's report:

Members of Greece’s ruling Syriza party are being asked to vote this coming Sunday on whether Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was right to agree to a third bailout for Greece.

Tsipras himself proposed the poll, which he said would be a test of how much support he has in his own party in his commitment to stay in the eurozone, but also to limit the period of austerity.  The Sunday poll will include all Syriza party members.

In a speech to the Syriza Central Committee here in Athens today, Tsipras – in shirtsleeves as the temperature hit a blistering 40 degrees outside – called on the party’s militant Left Platform to abandon thoughts of returning to the drachma, which he said would be an unmitigated disaster for the country.

Tsipras also scheduled a special Syriza national convention for September, to clear the air, as he put it. 

The aim is clearly to isolate the Left Platform, which is calling on Tsipras to break the bailout agreement with the creditors, and which made a strong showing this week.