ATHENS (Sputnik) – The Greek Parliament has passed a confidence vote, supporting the government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Out of 299 parliament members participating in the vote, 155 were in favour of Tsipras’ government. All of them were from the two-party coalition consisting of Syriza and the Independent Greeks (ANEL).
The confidence vote, which secured Greece’s new government in the early hours of Thursday, comes after three days of parliamentary sessions on the new government’s agenda. The debates came after the Syriza-led government won national elections in September.
The Greek economy has been severely strained for several years, because of the country’s multibillion debt accumulated after the 2008 world economic crisis.
Greece received about $270 billion from its main lenders, which include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and eurozone countries, under two bailout programs, the last of which expired on June 30th.
The aid came in exchange for reforms, such as tax hikes and pension cuts that the left-wing Syriza party, led by Tsipras, promised to revise after securing victory in the January parliamentary elections.
Tsipras first rejected the terms proposed by the lenders on the third bailout, later backing down and agreeing to introduce additional austerity reforms in exchange for €86 billion ($95-billion).
The first set of reforms under the third bailout package needs to be turned into law by mid-October.
