Greece's firebrand former parliament speaker on Monday threw her weight behind an anti-bailout party recently founded by rebels from the leftist Syriza to contest a snap election in September. Zoe Constantopoulou, a deeply divisive figure, was widely expected to form her own movement but chose instead to back the Popular Unity party of veteran leftist Panagiotis Lafazanis. "I will ally as an independent, as a collaborator, with the Popular Unity party which constitutes the first shield from the storm which broke since the elections were called," Constantopoulou told a press conference, as supporters held up a banner saying: "No to bailouts, Yes to Zoe." Alexis Tsipras abruptly resigned as prime minister earlier in August, days after clinching an 86 billion euro bailout package from Greece's EU and IMF lenders, aiming to crush a rebellion by far-left lawmakers and tighten his grip on power.
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