Former armed forces general staff chief Evangelos Apostolakis on Thursday was the latest deputy of the SYRIZA to announce his departure from the leftist party, initially declaring that he will remain in Parliament as an independent.
Apostolakis, a retired Hellenic Navy admiral, was elected on a state deputies’ list during the last general election in July 2024. He’s the first of the SYRIZA MPs elected in such a fashion – i.e. without standing in a specific election precinct against other candidates – to quit the party and remain in the current Parliament plenum.
Apostolakis was seen as close to deposed SYRIZA president Stefanos Kasselakis, who formed his own party and unveiled it during a gala-like event last weekend. However, the former chief of Greece’s joint chiefs of staff made no mention of joining another political formation on Thursday.
Apostolakis had also served as a non-MP minister of defense in the coalition SYRIZA government before 2019, and after his retirement. His involvement, as an ex-military officer, with a leftist party was also viewed as a somewhat of a rarity in Greece.
The development leaves SYRIZA with 27 deputies in the 300-MP legislature, while the number of independents has soared to 23.
Earlier, another deputy, Yannis Sarakiotis, announced that he was leaving SYRIZA’s parliamentary group. Sarakiotis was elected in the traditional manner, vying for the preference of those voters casting their ballots for SYRIZA in the election precinct he ran in.
Apostolakis decision generated an angry response by the party, which has seen approval ratings in successive opinion polls flounder.
Among others, an announcement referred to a “pre-determined” decision by the retired naval officer that today is capped off with a “shameful defection.”
