Profile: Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza
Alexis Tsipras, Greece's youngest political leader, was given a mandate to form a new government at the weekend after his anti-austerity Syriza party came in second. Today he called the country's austerity cagreements "null and void".
1:49PM BST 08 May 2012
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Tsipras, 38, appealed to the KKE communists, the Democratic Left and others to team up at the May 6 elections to vote out policies which he claimed where driving Greeks into poverty.
"We want to form a government that will lead the way out of this destructive austerity and deep recession, the policies that face a dead end," he told Reuters before a speech to voters in Volos, a port city in central Greece.
A cool, mild mannered politician who shuns neck ties and likes to get around on his motorcycle, Tsipras can be a fiery orator in parliament, railing against austerity.
Often blamed by the socialists for inciting violent protests, he has promised to freeze payments to creditors and renegotiate measures included in Greece's latest rescue package.
Born four days after the fall of Greece's military dictatorship in July 1974, Tsipras became leader of the Left Coalition in 2008 and was elected to parliament in 2009. He first emerged on the political scene in 2006 when he scored third place in the Athens mayoral race.
People who know him well say he is a perfectionist.
"He is thorough and scholastic on projects he undertakes, which sometimes can drive colleagues up the wall. It may have to something to do with his civil engineering background," said a staffer who did not want to be named.
A soccer fan who supports Athens-based Panathinaikos, Tsipras and his partner, high school sweetheart Betty, expect their second son in July.
