Former SYRIZA party president Stefanos Kasselakis remained defiant in face of the central committee’s decision to block his candidacy in the upcoming intraparty leadership elections. “A minority of the members of one body prohibited the duly elected chairman of the party from standing for re-election. It is an unprecedented event in the history of the country,” said Kasselakis in a video posted to X on Monday. “It is a shocking event in the history of the left.”
Η μειοψηφία των μελών ενός οργάνου απαγόρευσε στον νόμιμα εκλεγμένο πρόεδρο του κόμματος να είναι εκ νέου υποψήφιος.
Είναι ένα γεγονός πρωτοφανές στην Ιστορία του τόπου.
Είναι ένα γεγονός σοκαριστικό στην Ιστορία της Αριστεράς.Όμως το ανώτατο όργανο του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ είναι το… pic.twitter.com/a0dpuWAUmr
— Stefanos Kasselakis – Στέφανος Κασσελάκης (@skasselakis) October 14, 2024
On Saturday, the left-wing SYRIZA party’s central committee voted to block his candidacy. Many of the former Goldman Sachs trader’s supporters in the committee refused to take entry cards in protest of the proceedings, and the meeting was delayed several hours, but eventually, the vote was concluded with the decision to bar Kassekalis.
The former party leader was first elected as president of SYRIZA in September 2023 as an outsider to Greece’s political scene. But since then there has been frequent infighting between the party’s “old guard” and those supporting the newcomer. Many of the party’s members have left and formed splinter parties.
Kasselakis was eventually ousted as party president after a vote of no confidence by the majority of the party’s central committee members last month. Following this censure, the party is procedurally required to convene an extraordinary congress to determine the timing of a new internal election for the SYRIZA presidency.
The former SYRIZA leader had expressed intent to declare candidacy in these upcoming elections. But further drama followed with accusations slung first by Kasselakis towards the central committee, followed by calls to bar his candidacy. Kasselakis went as far to insist he is technically still party president.
Kasselakis maintained this recusant tone in his video response to the central committee decision to prevent his candidacy. He urged supporters to remain in the party to vote in next month’s party congress, asking them to “become a great wave of democracy that will sweep away all the mechanisms.”
SYRIZA swiftly released a press announcement in response, stating: “The decision of the Central Committee of Saturday 12/10/2024 was taken with an overwhelming majority. The body met with an accredited quorum, despite the anti-statutory and unacceptable actions, which proved unsuccessful. Its decision concerns Mr. Kasselakis and is immediately applicable and irrevocable.”
