ATHENS: The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos appointed on Thursday the country’s Supreme Court President Vassiliki Thanou as caretaker Prime Minister to lead the country to early general elections, according to an official announcement issued by the president’s office. The 65-year old judge will be sworn in on Thursday evening and the ministers of the interim government on Friday, according to the statement. Also on Friday the President was expected to set the date of the ballots, with most likely Sept. 20, and the parliament be formally dissolved. Thanou will become the first female Prime Minister in Greece’ history. Following the resignation of the outgoing Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the failure of political party leaders to form a new government from the current parliament, under the Greek Constitution the President names the Supreme Court chief as transitional Prime Minister. Tsipras and his government stepped down last Thursday forcing the elections just eight months after the Jan. 25 national polls that brought the Radical Left SYRIZA party in power. In a TV interview on Wednesday night Tsipras repeated that he felt it was his moral duty to request a fresh mandate from the Greek electorate to continue after the recent signing of the third bailout deal with Greece’ lenders since 2010. Meanwhile, Greece’s far-left leader on Thursday formally gave up a bid to form a coalition government, allowing the country’s president to finally set a date for early elections after a week of political wrangling. After using up all three days allowed, Popular Unity leader Panagiotis Lafazanis relinquished a mandate to form a government, given to him as head of the third-largest bloc in parliament after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned last week. “I think we can go to elections in keeping with the spirit of the constitution,” Lafazanis told President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in a meeting at the president’s office. Pavlopoulos is expected to check once more with party leaders on the odds of forming a coalition before installing a caretaker government to take the country to elections. The announcement on the election, which could take place as early as Sept. 20., is expected by Friday. Greece’s constitution stipulates the three biggest parties in parliament get a shot at forming a coalition if a prime minister resigns within a year of taking power. Both Lafazanis and the main conservative opposition New Democracy party before him used up the three days each was allotted despite having virtually no chance of success. The conservatives defended the delay tactics, saying all must be done to avoid a new round of elections that Greece does not need. Lafazanis – who broke his rebel far-left faction away from Tsipras’s Syriza party last week, taking a sixth of its lawmakers with him – used his three days to air his anti-bailout message. Tsipras remains hugely popular in Greece despite making a U-turn to accept a bailout programme and opposition parties feel a longer campaign period offers a better chance of denting his popularity as austerity cuts from the bailout start kicking in. No major polls have been published in recent weeks but Syriza is expected to once again emerge as the biggest party in parliament when the snap election is held. But Tsipras is not expected to secure an absolute majority, forcing him to find a coalition partner, failing which a second round of elections could be held. In an interview with Alpha TV on Wednesday, Tsipras stood by previous comments that his party would not cooperate with New Democracy and the Socialist PASOK, which took turns ruling Greece for decades before Syriza swept to power this year. He also ruled out a tie-up with the new centrist To Potami party that espouses a strong pro-euro message, effectively leaving his current coalition partner – the right-wing Independent Greeks – as the only potential ally. “Our differences are very significant,” Tsipras said. “I believe all these three parties express the old party system. Certainly, I will not be the prime minister.” The comments prompted a backlash from opposition figures on Thursday, who accused Tsipras of blackmailing voters with the dilemma of choosing either him or facing a political deadlock. “Yesterday Mr. Tsipras made a huge provocation, saying to citizens whatever you vote I will not cooperate,” Stavros Theodorakis, leader of To Potami, told Mega TV. “…In other words what? Elections again in October, if the Independent Greeks do not make it to parliament?”