PM Tsipras seeks ruling party members' referendum on Greek bailout on Sunday

Athens

GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday called on his divided Syriza party to ballot its members on whether Greece had any alternative to accepting a tough bailout, setting up a showdown with far-left rebels threatening to split the party.

Greece narrowly averted an exit from the eurozone for now when it struck an 11th-hour deal with lenders this month, but that cost Mr Tsipras the support of a quarter of his lawmakers, who accuse the party of betraying its anti-austerity roots.

In a defiant speech to the party's central committee gathered at an old movie theatre on Thursday, Mr Tsipras said his preference was for Syriza to hold an emergency congress in September to calmly deliberate strategy for the medium and long t…