Greece, elections seem fairly imminent

It had been expected that Prime Minister Tsipras would delay a re-shuffle of his cabinet until after the next set of bailout reforms were passed, which is due on July 22. 

However, he instead chose to do this last Friday as he looks to strengthen his position in the Syriza party following the significant number of its MPs that voted against him in the passing of the first round of bailout related reforms. It has been reported by the FT that Greek general elections will take place in September or October as Tsipras looks to achieve a fresh mandate.

The reshuffle is not expected to have a detrimental effect in terms of the next set of reforms being passed but this is only because the opposition are providing significant support. The FT is reporting that 4 further Syriza MPs will join the 38 who voted NO or abstained from last week's 'bailout measures' vote.

If all 13 members of Syriza's coalition partner (the Independent Greeks) vote in favour on Wednesday the government would only itself be contributing 120 'Yes's'. This is significant because, while there is no formal rule, a vote in which a Greek government achieves less than 120 seats can call into question its mandate to govern going forward. 

"However, this seems to have become less significant given that the measures are expected to pass anyway and elections also seem fairly imminent", says Rabobank.