Alexis Tsipras's Biography

Alexis Tsipras was born on 28 July 1974 in Athens in Greece, the year that the country removed the dictatorship of the Greek colonels.

Tsipras joined the Young Communists, the KKE, in the 1980s.

He gained a degree in civil engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, where he also completed postgraduate studies in Urban and Regional Planning.

Before focusing on politics, Alexis Tsipras worked as a civil engineer.

In 2008, Alexis Tsipras became the leader of the Syriza party, a collection of left wing groups. Syriza is an acronym meaning the "Radical Coalition of the Left".

Tsipras continued to raise his profile, standing for the mayor of Athens in 2006, and being first elected to the Greek parliament in 2009.

Syriza party won the Greek general election in January 2015, only just missing out on an absolute majority, forming an anti-austerity coalition with the Independent Greeks.

As a result of the election, Alexis Tsipras became Prime Minister.

On 20 August 2015, Tsipras announced that he was resigning to allow a snap general election. His party won 145 out of 300 seats and once again formed a coalition with the Independent Greeks to form a government.

However, in July 2019, he lost power when Syriza came second, with just 31.53% of the vote.

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