Tectonic changes in political and parliamentary balances are being caused by SYRIZA‘s new split, which now directly threatens to strip it of its status as the main opposition party.
Before the first 24 hours of the Congress had even passed, Stefanos Kasselakis announced his departure from the party, and four MPs stated that they would follow the same path. These are Alexandros Avlonitis (MP of Corfu), Petros Pappas (MP of Kilkis), Rallia Christidou (MP of Athens South Sector), and Kyriaki Malama (MP of Halkidiki), who announced their intention to declare themselves as independents.
Formally, the exit of the four from SYRIZA’s Parliamentary Group will be made official next Monday when their relevant letters will be submitted to the Speaker of Parliament. Until then, however, it is quite possible that more departures may occur.
In any case, with the declared intention of four MPs to leave, SYRIZA’s Parliamentary Group strength drops to 31 members, matching PASOK’s Parliamentary Group.
However, despite the tie, the title of the main opposition party remains with SYRIZA, as per Article 19 of the General Rules of Parliament: “The order of Parliamentary Groups is determined by their strength in terms of the number of MPs. In case of a tie, precedence is given to the Parliamentary Group of the party that received more votes in the elections from which Parliament was formed. A newly established Parliamentary Group follows the older equivalent one.”
If, however, there are further departures from SYRIZA’s Parliamentary Group, a highly likely scenario (or if even one independent MP joins Harilaou Trikoupi), then the title of the leader of the main opposition will pass to PASOK’s leader, Nikos Androulakis.
It should be noted that, apart from the four MPs, the “Kasselakis” camp also includes or is close to MPs Theodora Tzakri, Nina Kassimati, Giota Poulou, Giorgos Gavrilis, Yiannis Sarikiotis, Elena Akrita, and Evangelos Apostolakis.
It is worth mentioning that Mr. Kasselakis is expected to announce the formation of a new party, and some estimates suggest he will seek to have parliamentary representation. This can only happen through the coalition of at least 10 independent MPs.
At the same time, the imminent departure of the four from SYRIZA’s Parliamentary Group increases the pool of independents to 18 MPs, making them the 5th largest force in Parliament, just three members shy of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and seven more than the Greek Solution party.
