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Tsipras appeals for second chance ahead of Greek national polls

Xinhua, September 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Greece's former prime minister Alexis Tsipras appealed to voters on Friday to give his party SYRIZA a second chance to implement its program to reform the country and deal with the debt crisis.

Addressing a final rally ahead of Sunday's early general elections, Tsipras asked Greeks to give him a fresh mandate for a second time in eight months to form a new, stable and progressive government.

"The ballot's dilemma is whether we will allow Greece to roll back or we will continue together the struggle we started in January to restore dignity to the country," he told the crowd of cheering supporters.

The 41-year-old leader defended once again his government's work and the signing of the third bailout which cost him politically and led to a party split in August triggering the snap elections.

SYRIZA won the elections on Jan. 25 on an anti-austerity platform.

However, following lengthy negotiations with Greece's international creditors under the specter of a disorderly default, the SYRIZA government signed a new bailout this summer that includes a new round of painful measures. Tsipras has promised to win significant debt relief soon and kick-start the economy.

Opinion polls indicated that the U-turn has driven away voters who supported SYRIZA in January and on Sunday the race may be too close to call against the conservatives of the New Democracy party.

Tsipras on Friday presented SYRIZA as the party that confronted conservative forces in Europe defending Greek people's rights.

"Europe is split into those who support progress and the conservatives," he said, presenting the continent as a "battlefield" in which Greece is no longer alone.

He took the stage with other leaders of the European left by his side, including Pablo Iglesias, the head of Spain's Podemos, the French Communist Party General Secretary Pierre Laurent, Gregor Gysi from Germany's Die Linke and Ska Keller of the German Greens.

"The message of our victory will strengthen other progressive forces across Europe," he stressed.

"From Monday we roll up our sleeves and confront vested interests within our country," he said, asking the electorate to reject an "old and corrupted political system." Endit