The European Parliament elections were meant to mark the high point of populism in Europe. Instead, they may have led to the political demise of its earliest champion: Alexis Tsipras.

Greece’s prime minister, who stunned the continent with a double win in consecutive general elections in 2015, has called a snap vote that will probably be held at the beginning of July. His far left Syriza party, which has dominated Greece’s politics for the past four years, suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the center right New Democracy. That party, headed by the reform-minded former McKinsey consultant Kyriakos Mitsotakis, won more than 33% percent of the vote, while Syriza only took about 24%. A national election was due toward the end of this year. Tsipras may have concluded that an early vote is the best way to limit the size of an inevitable defeat.