The latest internal discord within main opposition SYRIZA came on Tuesday with a proposal by party leader Stefanos Kasselakis to replace the head of the leftist party’s Parliamentary group, veteran cadre and MP Socrates Famelos, with another deputy, former minister Nikos Pappas. The latter is viewed as one of the remaining allies of the former in poll-lagging party.
Famelos duly refused to resign from the post and challenged Kasselakis to table a motion of censure against him, one that will be voted on in a secret ballot by members of the party’s central committee.
Adding to the continued appearance of a party in disarray and infighting between rival factions was the fact that Kasselakis himself did not attend the relevant meeting in person, but participated via a video call. Kasselakis, a newcomer to Greece’s gritty political scene and the surprise winner of an internal party president election last year, also proposed a change of personnel in several other key party positions.
In a bid to defuse a crisis that has all the hallmarks of another party split, two prominent deputies reportedly called for the central committee session to adjourn without its members voting to take any decisions at this point.
