With conflicting results to the end and in an episodic manner, the election of Syriza’s Syriza Progressive Alliance’s first, powerful internal party crash test, as the majority and “Casselistas” faced off in the most decisive ballot box since that of Alexis Tsipras’s succession in September 2023.
There was no shortage, however, early on of totally different voting records, booing, but accusations of fraud on both sides. Above all, however, the unbridgeable gap and the “warlike” climate between the majority (the “87”, the “Polakis group” and the “Pappas group”) and the “Casselists” was confirmed once again. This is because since last Saturday afternoon and until this morning, each side has been issuing its results, with no point of intersection between them.
Exchanging, at the same time, verbal shots and with the risk of SYRIZA‘s liquidation visible, the majority and “Kasselistas” are now making a “life and death appointment” for the final, intra-party showdown at “Gazi Live”, while extremely crucial for the outcome of the Syndrio/”>Syndrio it is estimated that the “microclimate” that will be formed on Friday in the arena will be the most important factor for the final outcome of the Conference, without excluding the shifts of the Conference in favor of one or the other opinion, up to the last moment.
Majority: strong in the province, present in Athens
Completely satisfied after the close of the ballot box, the majority side appears to have won the election with a final margin of 65%-35% in its favor in the Convention elections.
Although the majority was organizationally and communicationally lagging behind the former party president, Stefanos Kasselakis, and his staff, it nevertheless managed to secure a lead in many prefectural organizations across the country, maintaining internal party power on a nationwide scale, while also holding power in urban centers and even in Athens organizations.
Its firsts include these:
- – of Epirus with 100 – 63
- – of Arta 35-12
- – Heraklion of Crete 66-55
- – Larissa 47-22
- – Achaia 91-49
- – Evia 21-6
“Casselistas”: “Castle” Athens, “plague” western Greece
On the opposite side, former SYRIZA president Stephanos Kasselakis’ side spoke from the first moment of an “overwhelming victory”, whose staff estimates that he will elect 1,934 delegates out of a total of 3,046, estimating that it will form a final correlation of 59% -41% in favor of the former president.
Strong forces, however, were held by the Casselists in the Attica basin, with firsts:
- – In East Athens 172 – 60, 74.1%
- – In West Athens 142 – 61, 70%
- – In East Attica 80 – 37
- – In the second district of Piraeus 14-0
- – In Pella 58-3
- – In Ioannina 36-27
Allusions and oddities
At the same time, however, there was no shortage of cases of national organizations, as well as Membership Organizations, where both sides issued different results, such as:
- – In Ptolemaida, where the majority gave a correlation of 12-8 in its favour, while the Kasselakis side gave a correlation of 17-0 in its favour,
- – In the Prefecture of Ioannina, for which the Casselakis side gave 36-27 in its favour, while the majority gave 33-27 in its favour,
- – In Thessaloniki, where the majority gave a correlation 97-87 in her favour, while the Kasselakis side 114 – 93.
At the same time, it was observed heaps of allegations on both sides of “attempts to tamper” with the election result with the majority accusing the “Kasselistas” of “attempts at fraud” in Agios Dimitrios, Lavrio, Kozani, Salamina, Koropi, and Chaidari. In addition, in Marathon, 18 excess ballots were reportedly found, while the counting in the B’ district of Athens was episodic, with the majority of the candidates leaving the district in protest of the exclusion of candidates, with the results literally up in the air.
Meanwhile, the winner in Lamia was Apostolos Gletsos who had sided with the majority against local MP and “Kasselistas”, Giannis Sarakiotis, while Alexander Avlonitis, a supporter of Stefanos Kasselakis, seems to have suffered an intra-party defeat in Corfu as well. On the contrary, the prefectures of Pella and Kilkis, constituencies of Theodora Tzakri and Petros Pappas respectively, voted for Mr. Kasselakis.
On his behalf, Stefanos Kasselakis with his repeated interventions in social networkshe proceeded during the election weekend with complaints regarding the massive absence of members from the lists of local organizations and his staff pointed out the impossibility of voting for Greeks abroad, while calling on registered members to turn up at the polls by 6 pm yesterday.
Kasselakis: ‘Welcome’ victory, ‘fake’ results
In a new post, however, in the early hours of the morning, Kasselakis called the majority’s victory “welcome”, although he referred to “fake results”, without disclosing his numerical estimate of the final correlation of forces at the ballot box.
On the flip side, “since they claim to be the winners, there is no reason to activate the legitimacy committee tomorrow to cut delegates. Do they have a majority? Let’s go to the congress,” Kasselakis argued, in an attempt to keep the number of congressmen he elected solid and solid, thus making a date at the congress with the “Tsipras guard” with an organized bloc of his supporters.
Σήμερα κάνατε το πρώτο μεγάλο βήμα για την επιστροφή της Δημοκρατίας στον ΣΥΡΙΖΑ.
— Stefanos Kasselakis – Στέφανος Κασσελάκης (@skasselakis) November 3, 2024
Ευχαριστώ τους χιλιάδες από εσάς που περίμεναν ακόμα και ώρες για να πιστοποιηθούν, μέσα στο οργανωτικό χάος.
Ευχαριστώ όλους εσάς που δεν κατάφεραν να ψηφίσουν γιατί κόπηκαν παράνομα, όμως πήγαν…
In detail, the post:
Today you took the first big step in the return of democracy to SYRIZA.
Thanks to the thousands of you who waited even hours to be certified, amidst the organizational chaos.
Thanks to all of you who were unable to vote because you were cut off illegally, yet you went to the polls, you were there. This victory belongs to you as well.
Thank you to our hundreds of volunteers, my co-workers, and all of you. I congratulate all the delegates – whichever side they were elected on – and wish them a successful convention.
This sweeping victory does not have my name on it. It has the word DEMOCRACY written on it.
Unfortunately, for months now, a small group has decided to erase that word from their vocabulary.
Today, they should accept the result – which is signed and verified by every OM and Prefecture – and go smoothly to the Congress. Instead, they chose to put out fake results.
But the victory they claim is welcome.
Since they claim victory, there is no reason to activate the legitimacy committee tomorrow to cut delegates. Do they have a majority? So let’s go to the convention with our elected delegates, properly and democratically.
Break the “cutter”
Note that the Committee for the Legalization of Delegates, which was also provided for in the last SYRIZA congresses, can reject elected delegates if they have demonstrated racist, offensive and generally anti-supporter behavior. The relevant discussion has already occupied the Central Organizing Committee of the Congress (COES) with the Kasselakis side complaining in recent days about a possible “cut-off”.
“Good luck” replies the majority
Kasselakis’ post was commented on almost immediately by SYRIZA majority sources, noting that “Stefanos Kasselakis tonight admitted his defeat by triumphing over it. At the same time, he is building his argument for challenging the outcome of the congress, which will be overwhelmingly against him.”
“Good luck to him and his “business friendly” party. There perhaps he can disqualify convention candidates, appoint “day laborers” to election committees, and make nominees. Not in SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance,” the same sources concluded.
Window to liquidation
Earlier, speaking on Mega yesterday, Stefanos Kasselakis said “We don’t need to make my party. We have a party.” He continued: “If they exclude me, it will be another undemocratic choice”, estimating that “there will be no SYRIZA the next day, I think people will leave en masse”. “It is a political issue. If the procedures are not democratic, quite simply this party will indeed have reached its end,” he added.
In addition, Stefanos Kasselakis disclosed about his predecessor, Alexis Tsipras, that “we are not in communication at the moment, which saddens me”. He clarified: “Because there are many discussions about a new body, I have been clear that SYRIZA must remain autonomous.” In this context, he said of Tsipras that “in case he or someone else does something about a new body of the center-left, I will be against it.”
However, the risk of the party’s liquidation was also pointed out by Nikos Pappas, the chairman of the party’s parliamentary group, speaking to Attica TV, stressing that a new split in SYRIZA is not inevitable. Speaking about the previous parliamentary term, “we were timid in the period 2019 – 2023. We delayed necessary steps,” Nikos Pappas commented on the transformation of SYRIZA PS during the Alexis Tsipras era. He, however, noted that “I would still say ‘yes’ to Alexis Tsipras”, despite the reluctance of broader changes in the party.
