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Greece debt crisis: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tries to calm his increasingly fractured Syriza party with internal vote on bailout plans

Some MPs fear the party's central committee is in danger of simply 'signing off' on Mr Tsipras's policies

Nathalie Savaricas

Friday 31 July 2015 00:52 BST

Alexis Tsipras faces creditors in Athens and the possibility of his former finance minister being investigated (AFP)

Greece’s Prime Minister made a last-minute attempt to secure unity in his fractured Syriza party, with the offer of an internal referendum this Sunday.

At a meeting of the party’s 200-strong central committee in Athens, Alexis Tsipras said that rebel MPs should either support him or come out into the open.

“Whoever thinks there can be a better government or Prime Minister, then they should speak up,” Mr Tsipras said in his opening address to the party’s governing body.

The referendum, which would ask dissenters in the party whether or not they supported his plans to reach a deal with the country’s creditors, would precede, and possibly negate, an emergency party congress due to take place in September.

In pictures: Greek referendum

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People celebrate in Athens after the first exit-polls of the Greek referendum

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A "No" supporter flashes a victory sign before a Greek flag atop the parliament in Athens, Greece July 5, 2015.Greeks voted overwhelmingly "No" on Sunday in a historic bailout referendum, partial results showed, defying warnings from across Europe that rejecting new austerity terms for fresh financial aid would set their country on a path out of the euro.

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Supporters of the No vote react after the first results of the referendum at Syntagma square in Athens

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Supporters of the No vote wave Greek flags after the referendum's exit polls at Syntagma square in Athens

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Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis casts his vote in the country's referendum

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A ballot box is emptied by a voting official at the closing of polling stations in Athens, Greece July 5, 2015. Greece voted on Sunday on whether to accept more austerity in exchange for international aid, in a high-stakes referendum likely to determine whether it leaves the euro-currency area after seven years of economic pain.

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A photographer photographs a man waiting to vote in the referendum at a school in the suburbs of Athens

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Greek voters are being asked to choose between backing their creditor's austerity measures or rejecting them

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Tourists walk past posters with slogans that read “OXI“ (NO) and “NAI“ (YES) ahead of the referendum in Athens

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Opposition parties to Syriza, including the centre-right New Democracy, are campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum

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Protesters on both sides of the argument ('No' pictured here) have rallied in Athens

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has been branded reckless and a feckless liar by EU leaders

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According to polls which surveyed some 1000 people across the country, 41.5 percent of Greeks would support the new bailout measures to avoid an exit from the Eurozone

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Despite Tsipras's assurances, many Greek people are not certain whether Sunday’s referendum is a vote on whether Greece will remain in the euro or not

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The Greek and EU flags flutter in front of the ancient Acropolis hill in Athens. The Greek people have been called upon to show “calm and national unity”

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addresses a crowd of 25,000 'No' supporters in Athens' Syntagma Square

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Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gave a televised address to the nation ahead of the vote. He has called on voters to reject creditors’ proposals for more austerity in return for rescue loans

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Protesters march holding a torn European Union flag during a demonstration for the 'NO' campaign in Thessaloniki

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Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has pledged to resign if his country votes “yes” to the bailout plan

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Pensioner wait to get their pensions outside a National Bank of Greece branch in central Athens. Banks only opened for pensioners to allow them to get their pensions, with a limit of 120 euros.

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Protesters attend an anti-austerity pro-government rally in front of the parliament building

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The possibility of Greece leaving the Eurozone is increasing by the day. Merchandise already exists to accompany the event

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An elderly man waits to receive his pension outside the closed National Bank of Greece headquarters in Athens

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People stand in a queue to use an ATM outside a closed bank in Athens

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A banner supporting the NO vote in the upcoming referendum hangs from the offices of the Greek Finance Ministry

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Greeks will be asked whether they accept the austerity terms demanded by the country's creditors

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Eurozone finance ministers expressed disappointment at the Greek decision to hold a referendum on the bailout terms

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Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, said bailout conditions had ‘asphyxiated’ his country

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Mr Tsipras has been struggling to hold the party together since pushing through a bailout plan in the wake of a national referendum. In a parliamentary vote days after the referendum, 38 of Syriza’s 149 MPs voted against the plan because of what they saw as its pandering to the austerity measures sought by the Eurogroup and the IMF.

Seventeen left-wing Syriza members resigned from its central committee ahead of a vote over Sunday’s referendum. Dimitri Kodelas, an MP who resigned, said the committee was in danger of simply “signing off” on Mr Tsipras’s policies.

Many party officials indicated that a September conference would be preferable to the vote on Sunday as this might avoid exposing Syriza’s internal wounds. The emergency congress, which is likely to be open to all Syriza supporters, could also allow Mr Tsipras to weed out far-left members and reshape his party, observers said.

The scale of infighting within Syriza has threatened to fracture the party and the ruling coalition, with senior officials saying early elections may be inevitable.

Mr Tsipras faces a war on many fronts. Representatives from the international creditors are in Athens to check on the measures the country needs to enforce in order to start negotiations over its third bailout.

Meanwhile, his former finance minister is under investigation. Parliament is set to determine whether there are grounds to indict Yanis Varoufakis following revelations of a plan to establish an alternative currency in the event of Greece leaving the eurozone.

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