Greece’s main opposition party Syriza is facing yet more trouble and seems to be nearing collapse, with party MPs vehemently divided.
On Tuesday evening, the Syriza Parliamentary Group convened with party leader Stefanos Kasselakis present via teleconference. The group was to vote for changes in the Parliamentary Group, as proposed by Kasselakis.
The true purpose of the meeting was to replace the president of the Parliamentary Group, Sokratis Famellos, who has openly expressed his discontent with Kasselakis. The Syriza leader asked that Famellos resign from his post as president, but Famellos refused.
The party leader is taking fire from many members of the Syriza Central Committee for his autocratic behavior, accused of treating the leftist party as his own property. Kasselakis called on the Parliamentary Group to anonymously vote for changes in the party.
Syriza is already divided in two: those who still want Kasselakis as party leader and those who oppose him. Indeed, the vote was almost evenly split. Seventeen MPs voted for a change in the group, 12 voted against, and four declared “present,” thereby abstaining from voting on the matter.
Seeing that Kasselakis is losing the support of a large number of Syriza supporters, Kasselakis turned to the only person who seems to be on his side, Nikos Pappas. Pappas had been the right hand of Alexis Tsipras during the Syriza – ANEL administration and appears to have been loyal to Kasselakis from day one.
It is possible that Pappas’ professed loyalty to Kasselakis is to serve his ulterior motive, which is to grab the reins of the party after Kasselakis is kicked out by the Central Committee, as several political analysts have speculated.
The Syriza Central Committee is to convene on September 7th to 8th, and it seems very likely to be stormy. Pavlos Polakis, the brazen MP who was ousted from the Parliamentary Group by the party leader, now threatens with a motion of censure when the Central committee meets.
The reason Kasselakis expelled Polakis was a series of vulgar comments he made about an aid of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Syriza MP Athena Linou criticized Polakis for his language and the Cretan MP came back at her accusing her of mishandling certain NGO funds. When Linou defended herself, Polakis called her a “crook” and a “liar.”
Most likely to appease Polakis, the Syriza leader did him the favor of expelling Linou from the Parliamentary Group, as well.
Now, the Greek Left is waiting with bated breath for the crucial Syriza Central Committee.
Only a year ago, Kasselakis seemed to be the Greek Left savior
It was August 2023 when most Greeks returned from summer vacation to find a man who came out of the blue—actually from the US—to claim the Syriza presidency. Less than a little over a month prior to this, Alexis Tsipras had resigned from the leftist party leadership, and several candidates were waiting to claim his seat.
Kasselakis looked like the most unlikely person to qualify. He was coming from a wealthy family with businesses in the US, had worked for Goldman Sachs, and had no experience whatsoever with politics, much less with the Greek Left.
Yet, his air of confidence, approach to the common people, and his slogan “I am the only one who can beat Mitsotakis” jelled with many Syriza voters. His visits to schools, hospitals, impoverished neighborhoods, and friendly talks with random people he met on the street made him a popular figure in the media.
After all, leftist voters had seen the charismatic Tsipras lose three elections in a row to Mitsotakis—two parliamentary elections and one municipal. It was time to try someone new, someone with such a friendly approach that had very little to do with the typical Greek politician.
In the grass roots election for the Syriza presidency in September, the rookie politician won the seat relatively easily from opponent Efi Achtsioglou, former Minister for Labor, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity in the Tsipras administration.
However, instead of staying with the party and following Kasselakis and his (vague) program, the losing Syriza faction accused him of not having the proper credentials to lead the first leftist party that governed Greece. Instead of going along with the new direction the party was taking, they decided to keep their seats in parliament but leave Syriza and later form a new party called Nea Aristera (New Left) in March 2024.
The Left is consumed in petty ideological arguments
From the beginning, leftist hardliners did not take well to Kasselakis’ past. For them, he was insincere, as he never acted, spoke, or lived like a true leftist. His time in the US generated suspicions. Conspiracy theorists saw him as a person who was put there to destroy the only leftist party that managed to get elected to govern.
In the October 2023 municipal and regional elections, Kasselakis’ Syriza did not fare as well as expected, although the particular elections have less to do with party affiliations than anything else.
Nevertheless, some put the blame on Kasselakis and his unorthodox way of leading the party. The Syriza leader has been criticized for his constant omission of the word “Left” in his speeches and more so for the ease with which he gets rid of people within the party who doubt his potential—even if they are seasoned Syriza members and long-time supporters of the Greek Left.
In the case of Famellos, Kasselakis made a huge mistake. The Syriza MP has excellent relations with most of the party’s representatives in parliament and is a possible candidate for the party leadership. In the event that Polakis files a motion of censure against Kasselakis, it won’t be a surprise if Famellos ends up taking over Syriza leadership.
What is worse for the Greek Left as the main opposition to New Democracy is that it is so divided that it cannot take advantage of the shrinking popularity of the Kyriakos Mitsotakis administration.
The continuous price increases in grocery stores, exorbitant rent prices, daily evictions for debt to banks, rise in crime, and uncontrollable wildfires among other problems would have been issues that a good leftist opposition leader could address with potential solutions.
Instead, the Greek Left, represented by Syriza in parliament, is consumed in petty ambitions, meaningless personal fights, unrealistic ideological arguments, and useless theorizing. The party has left the Mitsotakis administration unaccountable for its policies which mostly cater to elite and foreign interests.
Truly, it can be said that the prospect of a Syriza collapse is proof that the Greek Left has failed to address the needs of the Greek people and make an impact.
