Athens, Aug 28 (IANS): Greece's Supreme Court Chief Judge Vassiliki Thanou was on Thursday appointed to head the transitional government that will lead the country to snap general elections. Thanou became the country's first female prime minister.

Born in the central Greek city of Chalkida in 1950, Thanou graduated from the Athens University's faculty of law and continued her post-graduate studies in European Law at Sorbonne University in France, Xinhua reported.

She entered the judiciary body in 1975 and since then has been promoted to several significant posts.

Thanou, who has served as Supreme Court judge since 2008, was promoted to Supreme Court Vice President in 2014 and finally, became head of the Supreme Court on July 1 this year.

She was the second woman serving as Supreme Court president.

According to BBC, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos named Thanou after efforts to form a coalition failed. Last week, Alex Tsipras resigned as prime minister to seek a new mandate for office.

Elections are expected to be scheduled for 20 or 27 September.

Thanou's appointment ends a week of fruitless negotiations as opposition party leaders tried unsuccessfully to form a government.

Tsipras stepped down as prime minister and called early elections after 25 of his MPs quit Syriza over the bailout he agreed with European creditors and formed the left-wing Popular Unity party.