Yesterday, the former president of the party, Stefanos Kasselakis, unexpectedly plunged the SYRIZA Progressive Alliance into a new crisis. His call to supporters to register as members not only in local organizations of the main opposition party or on the digital platform Isyriza (the digital platform of Koumoundourou) but also on his website, has significantly escalated internal party disputes.
Casus Belli: The “Faction”
The existence of Kasselakis’ website at odikosmassyriza.gr, which he announced during his appearance on Star TV yesterday, triggered a “red alert” among top SYRIZA officials late at night. They were reportedly astonished by what they termed a new “provocation” from the former president. Most of the senior officials expected Kasselakis to address the events from the last meeting of the Central Committee during his first appearance following the rejection of his candidacy, rather than facing the “Kasselakis faction,” as they described the parallel membership registration on his personalized platform.
Thoughts of Expulsion
“There has never been a former president seeking to reclaim his position by establishing a party within the party,” stated senior SYRIZA officials after the announcement of Kasselakis’ website. Official condemnation of his initiative is expected from Koumoundourou today.
The Political Secretariat is likely to meet again tomorrow, Thursday, to address this new situation, which brings thoughts of Kasselakis’ expulsion closer, considering the idea of “party impersonation.” For this reason, a meeting of the Ethics Committee, which deals with the party’s disciplinary matters, may also be on the table, focusing solely on the collection of signatures from friends and members through the former president’s website.
In this context, “this is the definition of a faction in our Statute,” remarked another top SYRIZA official to protothema.gr, while “Stefanos Kasselakis has adopted this site that uses a distorted name of the party, as incredible as it may sound,” as described in a post by George Panagiotopoulos, a member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA and KOES, who was the first to publicly react to Kasselakis’ digital platform.
Polling for the Congress
Meanwhile, some officials from the majority have interpreted Kasselakis’ platform as a “direct undermining” of the rules and democratic functioning of SYRIZA. They pointed out that the parallel registration system is not unrelated to the organizational difficulties faced by the “Kasselakists” in forming alliances within the party, especially ahead of the election of Congress members.
Given that the measure for electing Congress members is set from 1/40 to 1/60, and the number of Congress members is strictly defined, registering members on the former president’s digital platform could mitigate the communication costs of the “Kasselakists” failing to control the Congress.
Notably, the former president of SYRIZA stated yesterday that “it is stipulated in the statute that the upcoming Congress can decide whatever it wants,” expressing his desire to have led the party to the Congress as President, even while recognizing the motion of censure against him.
Distance from the “Kasselakists”
In recent days, statements and actions from officials, particularly members of Parliament who had openly supported Kasselakis until recently, have shown a slight shift among some of them, while others have publicly mentioned “mistakes” made by the former SYRIZA president.
Starting with Theodora Tsakri, who excluded the possibility of running for president yesterday, saying that Stefanos Kasselakis would be a candidate, but without revealing whether she would run if he were excluded from the committee meeting. Conversely, she disclosed that she would not follow Kasselakis if he left the party, stating, “I will remain in SYRIZA if Mr. Kasselakis leaves, but he wants to stay in SYRIZA.”
It is also reported that Nina Kassimati, a member of Parliament for B’ Piraeus, is keeping her distance from the former president, while MPs from his previously close circle, such as Giannis Sarakiotis, Giota Poulou, and Vasilis Kokkalas, seem reluctant to follow Kasselakis out of SYRIZA.
Kokkalas stated, “I was one of the first to say after the European elections that Kasselakis made mistakes, that the result was not good, and that the grace period for everyone has ended,” adding that “no one can claim that mistakes were not made, but his biggest mistake was believing there were sincere intentions and that everyone acted in good faith.”
“The operation to exclude and expel him by a so-called leftist and self-referential party elite will not succeed. No one will leave until they expel and exclude everyone who supports him,” emphasized Rallia Christidou on Real FM yesterday.
Proportional Representation at the Base
While many of the “Kasselakists” in Parliament do not seem inclined to definitively close the door on Koumoundourou in the event of Kasselakis’ expulsion, there is a lurking temptation to record the percentage reflecting the “Kasselakists” in the new power dynamics that will unfold in the post-Kasselakis era.
From this perspective, apart from the names of parliamentarians such as Rena Dourou, Theodora Tsakri, and Elena Akrita, who have been mentioned as potential candidates for president in Kasselakis’ place, it is not ruled out that there may be another candidacy from the ranks of the “Kasselakists,” featuring entirely different characteristics from a surprising figure.
