Monday 06 July 2015 1:49 am

Greek debt crisis: Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigns despite referendum “no” vote

Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigned his post today, despite the Greeks' resounding "no" vote in Sunday's referendum.

The economist praised the electorate for "the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid no vote" – but said it was clear he could not remain in his position.

Varoufakis, who had previously threatened to quit if Greece returned a yes vote, announced he was a "minister no more" in a blog post published early Monday morning:

Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted "partners", for my… "absence" from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement.

For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.

Although he did not name names, Varoufakis added he would "wear the creditors' loathing with pride".

But he left the door open to working with the government in some capacity, saying it was his "duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum."

"The superhuman effort to honour the brave people of Greece, and the famous OXI (NO) that they granted to democrats the world over, is just beginning."