Senior judge Ioannis Sarmas was named caretaker prime minister in Greece on Wednesday after a general election failed to produce a new government.

Mr Sarmas (66) will be sworn in on Thursday and lead a caretaker government until a new election next month, according to government officials.

The vote is widely expected to be held on June 25th but has not been formally confirmed.

His appointment was announced after the conservative New Democracy party of Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis won a landslide victory in a general election on Sunday, beating his left-wing opponents by 20 percentage points but falling short of a parliamentary majority.

Next month’s election will take place under a different system which boosts the winning party.

Mr Mitsotakis and the leaders of four other political parties represented in parliament held a joint meeting on Wednesday with Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou to discuss arrangements for the upcoming election.