A senior Greek judge, Ioannis Sarmas, was asked Wednesday to lead an interim government tasked with organizing a second national election by late June, the presidency announced.
Faced with “the imposibility of forming a government” just three days after national elections “the solution, according to the Constitution is the formation of an interim government,” said President Katerina Sakellaropoulou during a meeting with Sarmas. She referred to the fact that none of the three parties that led Sunday’s polls was willing to form a coalition government, after failing to secure a majority.
Outgoing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called for a fresh election as early as June 25 after securing his party’s biggest electoral triumph in years, but five seats short of being able to produce a single-party government.
“It is a great honour, a constitutional obligation and my duty as a citizen to accept this responsibility,” said Sarmas, 66.