Greece's Tsipras: party rebels could force early election
By Associated Press
Jul 29, 2015 6:16 AM CDT
Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gives an interview to the radio station ''Sto Kokkino 1055'' in Athens, Wednesday, July 29, 2015. Greece's parliament has already approved two batches of reforms, drastically increasing sales tax on key consumer goods, and reforming the banking and judiciary systems....   (Associated Press)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's prime minister says he does not want early elections, but rebels within his radical left Syriza party could force his hand.

Alexis Tsipras said Wednesday that if he loses his parliamentary majority, which has been challenged by party hardliners who oppose Greece's talks for a new international bailout, he will have to call national elections.

Tsipras said in an interview with Syriza's Sto Kokkino radio station that he wants to hold a party congress in September, once the vital bailout deal is sealed, to decide on the party's future.

Tsipras' six-month-old government is negotiating the terms of the 85 billion euro bailout — Greece's third in little more than five years — with representatives of the country's international creditors. The deal must be concluded before Aug. 20.