Alexis Tsipras, Greek engineer and politician, 186th Prime Minister of Greece
Alexis Tsipras (Greek: Αλέξης Τσίπρας, pronounced [aˈleksis ˈt͡sipras]; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He is a member of Syriza, a party over which he has presided since 2009 and has served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.Tsipras has led the Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, a left-wing political party, since 2009. He was the fourth Prime Minister who governed in the course of the 2010s government-debt crisis.
Tsipras was born in Athens in 1974. He joined the Communist Youth of Greece in the late 1980s and in the 1990s was politically active in student protests against education reform plans, becoming the movement's spokesperson. He studied civil engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, graduating in 2000, later undertaking post-graduate studies in urban and regional planning. He worked as a civil engineer in the construction industry, based primarily in Athens.
From 1999 to 2003, Tsipras served as the secretary of Synaspismos Youth. He was elected as a member of the Central Committee of Synaspismos in 2004 and later the Political Secretariat. In the 2006 local election, he ran as Syriza's candidate for Mayor of Athens, winning 10.5%. In 2008, he was elected as Leader of Syriza, succeeding Alekos Alavanos. He was first elected to the Hellenic Parliament representing Athens A in the 2009 election and was re-elected in May and June 2012, subsequently becoming Leader of the Opposition and appointing his own shadow cabinet.
In January 2015, Tsipras led Syriza to victory in a snap legislative election, winning 149 out of 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament and forming a coalition with the Independent Greeks. On 20 August 2015, seven months into his term as prime minister, he lost his majority after intraparty defections; he then announced his resignation and called for a snap election to take place the following month. In the September 2015 election that followed, Tsipras led Syriza to another victory, this time winning 145 out of 300 seats and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks. During his premiership, he oversaw negotiations regarding the Greek government-debt crisis, initiated the Greek bailout referendum and responded to the European migrant crisis. In 2015, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people globally.