Tsipras sworn in as new Greek Prime Minister
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Leader of leftist Syriza party becomes youngest PM in history of Greece shortly after coalition government agreed with right-wing Independent Greeks.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has been sworn in as Greece's new prime minister.
The 40-year-old leader of the left-wing party took his oath of office before President Karolos Papoulias at a ceremony at the Presidential Mansion in Athens on Monday, making him the youngest Prime Minister in the history of the country.
Dressed without a tie, Tsipras vowed before Papoulias: "I will always serve the general interest of the country.
He vowed to uphold the constitution and serve the Greek people.
The ceremony came hours after the right-wing Independent Greeks party agreed to form a coalition government with the winners of Greece's national elections.
- 'Humiliation and pain'
Independent Greeks' leader Panos Kammenos made the announcement on Monday following a meeting with Tsipras, saying: "From now on, there is a government. We give a vote of confidence to Tsipras."
The right-wing Independent Greeks party is ideologically different from Syriza but shares its anti-austerity policy.
Syriza won 36.3 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections, with the ruling coalition gaining 27.8 percent, giving Syriza a projected 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament - two short of an absolute majority needed to form a single-party government.
He declared shortly after the election victory: "Greece is turning a page; its leaving behind the austerity of destruction, autocracy and five years of humiliation and pain.?
"We are putting together a government of social deliverance to carry out our program and negotiate with Europe."
- Dramatic rise
The election win marks the rapid political rise in Greece of Tsipras, who was born in Athens on July 28, 1974, just four days after Greece's seven-year-old military regime collapsed.
He joined the Young Communists Society in the late 1980s and was elected a member of the Central Council of the National Students Union of Greece between 1995 and 1997.
After serving as the secretary of the leftist Synaspismos Party from 1999 to 2003, he was elected as leader of the party.
Tsipras was elected as a member of parliament in 2009 and four years later became head of the Syriza party after the Synaspismos Party dissolved.
Syriza became the second-largest party in the 2012 general elections by increasing its share of the vote to 16.8 percent, a dramatic increase from 4.6 percent in the 2009 elections.
Tsipras is married with two children and trained as a construction engineer.
Anadolu Agency
The 40-year-old leader of the left-wing party took his oath of office before President Karolos Papoulias at a ceremony at the Presidential Mansion in Athens on Monday, making him the youngest Prime Minister in the history of the country.
Dressed without a tie, Tsipras vowed before Papoulias: "I will always serve the general interest of the country.
He vowed to uphold the constitution and serve the Greek people.
The ceremony came hours after the right-wing Independent Greeks party agreed to form a coalition government with the winners of Greece's national elections.
- 'Humiliation and pain'
Independent Greeks' leader Panos Kammenos made the announcement on Monday following a meeting with Tsipras, saying: "From now on, there is a government. We give a vote of confidence to Tsipras."
The right-wing Independent Greeks party is ideologically different from Syriza but shares its anti-austerity policy.
Syriza won 36.3 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections, with the ruling coalition gaining 27.8 percent, giving Syriza a projected 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament - two short of an absolute majority needed to form a single-party government.
He declared shortly after the election victory: "Greece is turning a page; its leaving behind the austerity of destruction, autocracy and five years of humiliation and pain.?
"We are putting together a government of social deliverance to carry out our program and negotiate with Europe."
- Dramatic rise
The election win marks the rapid political rise in Greece of Tsipras, who was born in Athens on July 28, 1974, just four days after Greece's seven-year-old military regime collapsed.
He joined the Young Communists Society in the late 1980s and was elected a member of the Central Council of the National Students Union of Greece between 1995 and 1997.
After serving as the secretary of the leftist Synaspismos Party from 1999 to 2003, he was elected as leader of the party.
Tsipras was elected as a member of parliament in 2009 and four years later became head of the Syriza party after the Synaspismos Party dissolved.
Syriza became the second-largest party in the 2012 general elections by increasing its share of the vote to 16.8 percent, a dramatic increase from 4.6 percent in the 2009 elections.
Tsipras is married with two children and trained as a construction engineer.
Anadolu Agency
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