After defeat, Greek PM calls for snap elections

Following a resounding defeat to conservative New Democracy on Sunday night in European Parliament elections, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he will call early elections after the second round of local and regional elections next weekend.

Speaking outside SYRIZA party headquarters in Athens in the wake of his party's defeat in European Parliament elections, Tsipras, who had said the polls would be a vote of confidence in the government's policy, admitted that "the outcome was not up to our expectations."

With 33 percent of votes counted, ND had 33.31 percent ahead of SYRIZA with 23.88 percent and centrist Movement for Change (KINAL) with 7.18 percent. Communist Party KKE had 5.75 percent, ahead of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn with 4.85 and pro-Russian right-wing party Greek Solution with 4.04 percent. The Diem25 party of former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis had...