The internal crisis in SYRIZA is taking on unpredictable dimensions as the party’s president, Stefanos Kasselakis, openly showed the door to a number of prominent minority members yesterday over…technical issues, pushing the unity of the party to the limit.

It all started when the SYRIZA president addressed the party’s top officials yesterday, saying during his intervention at the first meeting of the Central Organizing Committee of the Conference (KOES) in a sharp tone, “let whoever disagrees leave,” leaving those present stunned. Specifically, while the party meeting was in progress and only a few top officials had spoken, Mr. Kasselakis suddenly connected to the digital platform while MP Giota Poulou was speaking and took the floor, reportedly saying, “whoever likes it,” and for those who don’t, they should leave, reacting primarily to the proposal of changing the date of the upcoming SYRIZA Conference to align with the concurrent electoral process in PASOK, a point raised by Sokratis Famellos and Olga Gerovasili.

However, both the abrupt manner and the intensity of Mr. Kasselakis’ speech caused a strong reaction from the Vice President of the Parliament, Olga Gerovasili, who was the first to leave the digital meeting, followed one by one by all the members aligned with the minority “8”, including Kostas Zachariadis, Katerina Notopoulou, Giannis Ragousis, among others.

Chaos ensued, and former minister Nikos Pappas intervened to calm the situation, asking Mr. Kasselakis to retract his statements and continue the meeting, but the SYRIZA president did not heed his internal ally. In this explosive atmosphere, Mr. Kasselakis returned to the meeting for a second time but without the intention of retracting his statements.

The reasons

In the hours following the “combative” session, top SYRIZA officials were unable to interpret Mr. Kasselakis’ “inflammatory” behavior, as neither malicious criticism nor expressions of doubt had been directed at him. On the contrary, the issues raised by party members were purely technical, such as the lack of a central proposal from the Statutes Committee in a previous meeting and the absence of Mr. Kasselakis’ final proposals for changes in the party.

Among the technical issues raised by minority members were whether the conference is permanent or extraordinary, the lack of clarity on the framework of the president’s proposals for SYRIZA’s organizational structure, and the fact that the pre-conference dialogue period is only 20 days (August 9-29). For example, Giannis Ragousis stressed that Mr. Kasselakis is obligated to present the significant changes he has announced as the party heads to an extraordinary Statutory Conference.

In this context, the possibility of postponing the Conference was raised, which Mr. Kasselakis interpreted as a “defeatist line,” believing that his party operates independently of others’ activities. However, similar comments were made by Mr. Kasselakis’ supporters, such as former Secretary Panos Rigas, who suggested turning the conference from a permanent one to a regular one and keeping the same delegates who participated in the previous conference in 2022. Members close to Mr. Kasselakis avoided commenting on the incident, while Pavlos Polakis, who has recently refrained from openly participating in party bodies, was absent from yesterday’s meeting.

The fact that the… schedule was enough for the SYRIZA president to show the door to several top officials without any political criticism of the party’s actions has led some minority members to believe that Mr. Kasselakis is attempting to neutralize those he sees as internal opponents ahead of the Conference, accelerating SYRIZA’s transformation over the summer.

Lone path

In this atmosphere, tomorrow’s meeting of the party’s Parliamentary Group is expected to take place in a very heavy climate, as yesterday’s events further heightened tensions following the departure of Giannis Dragasakis and the direct challenge to Stefanos Kasselakis by Giannis Mouzalas.

Already, the fact that criticism of the SYRIZA president comes from beyond the “usual suspects,” such as members of the “87,” and from former supporters, has shaken figures around Koumoundourou, especially as Giannis Mouzalas was a steady interlocutor of Nikos Pappas, from whom he is also said to have distanced himself.

At the same time, Mr. Kasselakis’ initiatives for “unified center-left” cooperation have not been successful, as efforts to find common ground at the parliamentary level with PASOK have not materialized, while former Prime Minister and SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras intervened again on the issue of the “democratic opposition” with an article yesterday.

“SYRIZA, with all its excesses at that time, its surplus of enthusiasm, and its lack of realism, but also with its rapid and violent maturation later, was the necessary democratic bulwark against the wave of the far-right and anti-politics,” Mr. Tsipras said about 2015, concluding with today’s warning that “developments in Europe warn us dramatically. The democratic majority, regardless of party affiliation, the parties primarily of the democratic opposition, and social collectives, must incorporate this response into their initiatives and actions. Before it’s too late.”