SYRIZA is looking for a recovery plan.
After months of infighting, with bitter schisms and nine MPs leaving the party, leading to the loss of its status as the official parliamentary opposition, and declining public support, the once-ruling party is still looking for ways to stabilize.
Every poll currently puts SYRIZA in the single-digit approval ratings. The most recent approval rating polls rank it in fifth place, garnering only a 7.1% approval rate.
Newly elected party president Socrates Famellos has been trying to gather up the pieces and unite the party on a new path. In a morning radio interview yesterday on Real FM, Famellos put forth a hopeful call to action, stating, “I have asked all those who believe that SYRIZA is their party, is their home, to return.”
SYRIZA’s Political Secretariat is scheduled to meet today at 4:00 PM, with several topics reportedly on the agenda. One key item involves proposals for reorganizing the SYRIZA press office and appointing new individuals to positions of responsibility. After so many defections the party is struggling to project reliability.
Additionally the Political Secretariat are expected to discuss the naming of the President of the Republic which has been a hotly speculated topic in Athens the past few weeks.
The SYRIZA splinter party, the New Left, had recently tossed the name of Christos Rammos, president of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy, into the ring. However there were critiques that as head of the independent body that is investigating the wiretapping scandal, to accept candidacy would undermine Rammos’ independence. Rammos declined being considered for the position earlier this week.
Other names have been posited or hinted at by other political parties for the presidential seat, though no other name has been leveled officially.
Famellos has called for unity on this topic as well, stating: “the nomination of the President of the Republic or the President of the Republic and the person who will be selected and proposed should not be a party choice.”
