Greece's Syriza party to split as far-left MPs form new party

Far-left members of Greece's ruling Syriza party have revealed plans to form a splinter party, Popular Unity, following the resignation of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and calling of snap elections overnight.

On Friday, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos formally gave the conservative opposition a chance to form a new coalition government after Tsipras's government resigned.

Read more: Greek PM Tsipras resigns and calls snap elections

Vangelis Meimarakis, leader of the opposition New Democracy Party, said on Thursday he would try to form a new government to avoid a third election in as many years, but with just 76 members in the 300-seat parliament, the bid is unlikely to succeed.

With elections likely to take place on 20 September, 25 members of Tsipras' Syriza party on Friday announced their move in a letter to Parliament, saying they would form a splinter party led by former energy minister Panayiotis Lafazanis.

During recent weeks, Syria's new Left Platform faction counted between 11 and 40 MPs depending on reports, so there is a possibility that numbers may increase in coming days.

If Popular Unity takes 25 MPs into the election it would become the third largest behind Syriza and New Democracy, ahead of the far-right Golden Dawn.

On its staunchly anti-austerity platform, Syriza swept to power in January's general election and continued to hold a solid lead in the opinion polls all year, even though it has been forced to give up many of its election promises.

But based on polls in July, Tsipras may feel he has a good chance of being returned as prime minister, perhaps in a new coalition.

"I am resigning because I have now exhausted the mandate which the public gave me in January’s general election," Tsipras said during his televised address on Thursday night.

He said Greek people must decide "whether we made the right choice”.