Greek PM kicks off July 7 election campaign

ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday kicked off a campaign for early national elections on July 7, following a double defeat at recent European and local elections.

Tsipras formally requested the dissolution of parliament during a visit to the Greek head of state, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

National elections were originally scheduled to be held by October, but Tsipras said a "prolonged, four-month campaign could have created dangers concerning the smooth course of the economy".

After three successive wins since 2014, Tsipras is on the ropes after successively losing the European parliament vote in May and local elections earlier this month.

His leftist Syriza party trails the New Democracy conservative party by over nine points, according to the latest opinion polls.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday accused Tsipras of "defrauding" Greeks by hiking taxes after abandoning his promises to eliminate austerity in 2015.

"I would not want you to once again (have) a prime minister who comes to power by telling you things that cannot be done," Mitsotakis said on the campaign trail on the island of Kos.