Democratic Left (DIMAR) party leader Fotis Kouvelis expelled Grigoris Psarianos from the party’s parliament group yesterday due to his “systematic differentiation and opposition to the initiatives and choices of the party and with his refusal to endorse the proposal for a referendum on the small PPC”. Meanwhile, DIMAR party spokesperon Andreas Papadopoulos sent a letter to Mr. Kouvelis expressing his desire to leave the party’s Central Committee, just a few hours after DIMAR MP Katerina Markou tendered her resignation in a letter accusing the party of being “old-fashioned, insular and plodding.”

DIMAR deputy Gerasimos Georgatos also tendered his resignation stating that the expulsion of Mr. Psarianos was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “The Democratic Left has reached a position of extreme unreliability and indignity. From the moment it left the tripartite government until today it has been characterized by the absence of stable strategic direction, opportunistic tactical maneuvers, hypocritical commitment to reforms and the mere semblance of party democracy,” he said, blaming the party’s leadership for this.

It is expected that the next to leave will be Spyros Lykoudis who wrote a letter of complaint when Mr. Psarianos was expelled claiming that it was Mr. Psarianos right to not agree with the party’s proposal for a referendum.

DIMAR has been suffering from MP restlessness and discontent after its disappointing results in the European Parliament elections last month. Since then, the party’s leader had tendered his resignation but this had not been accepted by the party members of the Central Committee.