He joined the Communist Youth of Greece in the late 1980s and in the 1990s was politically active in student protests against education reform plans, becoming the movement's spokesperson.

In January 2015, Tsipras led Syriza to victory in a snap legislative election, winning 149 out of 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament and forming a coalition with the Independent Greeks.

In the September 2015 election that followed, Tsipras led Syriza to another victory, winning 145 out of 300 seats and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks.

In his resignation statement he stressed that SYRIZA has come full circle - that the party needs a profound renewal in order to be able to regain its credibility among citizens.

His father, Pavlos, was from Athamania in Epirus and was a well-off public works contractor,[5][6][7] while his mother, Aristi, was born in Eleftheroupoli, a town in Greek Macedonia.

He rose to prominence as a representative of the student movement when he was featured as a guest on a television show hosted by journalist Anna Panagiotarea.

During the interview, Panagiotarea implied that Tsipras was being disingenuous in defending middle and high school students' right to absenteeism without parental notification in the context of protests.

[11] Newspapers and opposition politicians contrasted his early activism for the free state education to his choice to enroll his children in private schools when he became prime-minister.

He managed quite efficiently to maintain a strong adherence to the policy of the party, effectively out talking both the left and right political wings.

As secretary of Synaspismos Youth, he took an active part in the process of creating the Greek Social Forum and attended many of the international protests and marches against neoliberal globalization.

Tsipras led Syriza to victory in the general election held on 25 January 2015, falling short of an outright majority in Parliament by just two seats.

On the same day he was sworn in by President Karolos Papoulias as the youngest prime minister in Greek history, using the words "I declare in my name, honour and conscience to uphold the Constitution and its laws.

They held a joint press conference expressing concerns about austerity measures imposed by the Juncker Commission and stated that economic growth is the only way to exit from the crisis.

He concluded that there were at least two competing visions for the integration of Europe, both of which he seemed to reject, and that certain unnamed institutional actors had "an obsession" with their own technocratic programme.

[30][31] On 27 June 2015, Tsipras announced a referendum to decide whether or not Greece should accept the bailout conditions proposed jointly by the Juncker Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

On 3 July, during an address to at least 250,000 people gathered in the capital's Syntagma Square in front of parliament, he rejected some leaders' warnings that a "No" result in Sunday's plebiscite could see Greece forced to leave the eurozone.

[35] The Syriza-led government of Greece accepted a bailout package that contains larger pension cuts and tax increases than the one rejected by Greek voters in the referendum.

"[37] On 20 August 2015, Tsipras resigned from position of the Prime Minister of Greece due to the rebellion of MPs from his own party Syriza and called for a snap election.

After opposition parties failed to form a government, Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was appointed as an interim prime minister until elections could be held.

[44] In November 2015, Tsipras received an angry reception at a refugee camp in Lesbos by around a hundred protesters, wearing life jackets and brandishing placards calling on the European Union to stop deaths by allowing asylum seekers safe and legal passage to Europe.

[45] In November 2015, Tsipras became the first Greek prime minister to visit Turkey's Aegean province of İzmir since the days of the Occupation of Smyrna, meeting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu; they agreed to cooperate on the refugee crisis and to establish technical cooperation between Greek and Turkish coast guards.

Tsipras called for calm on the streets and defended the austerity package, saying it fell in line with the agreement reached with the EU the previous year.

"[50] In December 2016, a social reform aimed at the poorest pensioners caused the suspension of Greek debt relief measures by the European Union.

[55] Trump added that his administration had informed Congress of a potential sale to upgrade the F-16 aircraft in Greece's air force, a deal that could be worth $2.4 billion.

Tsipras furthermore asserted that the country had regained its sovereignty to determine its own future, reaching a destination that would allow the Greeks "to make our place as it deserves to be.

Along with the austerity measures, Alexis Tsipras had promised a "parallel programm" with social reforms in order to achieve a balance between the agreement with Europe and the fight against poverty and neo-liberalism.

The party once again suffered defeat in the 2023 elections, both in May and June, in which their share of the vote collapsed drastically, ending up losing over one-third of the seats they had won four years prior.

[63] During the last years in Opposition and also in his inauguration speech, the new prime minister Zoran Zaev vowed his determination to resolve the decades-old dispute with Greece.

[80] On 30 July, the parliament of Macedonia approved plans to hold a non-binding referendum on changing the country's name that took place on 30 September.

[82] The amendment entered into force following the ratification of the Prespa agreement and the Protocol of Accession of North Macedonia to NATO by the Greek Parliament.