"We have an uphill road ahead," Tsipras told President Karolos Papoulias just before being sworn in as prime minister in a ceremony that eschewed the traditional oath on a Bible and blessing with basil and water. Tsipras met Greece's Archbishop Ieronymos to say he planned to take a non-religious oath.
Within hours of victory on a campaign of "Hope is coming!", the 40-year-old Tsipras sealed a coalition deal with the small Independent Greeks party which also opposes Greece's EU/IMF aid programme though the two parties are at odds on many social issues like illegal immigration.
The alliance is an unusual one between parties on the opposite end of the political spectrum brought together by a mutual hatred of the 240-billion-euro bailout programme keeping Greece afloat at the price of budget cuts.
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