Ousted SYRIZA president Stefanos Kasselakis refuses to fall in line with party marching orders.
In an interview with STAR on Tuesday night, Kasselakis outlined his strategy for reclaiming the presidency, despite being deposed in September and barred from running on Saturday. He claimed that the upcoming party congress, rather than the central committee, is the body that decides leadership candidacies.
“Currently, no one is an official candidate. The congress is the body that approves candidacies,” he said in the late-night television interview. “They want to disqualify me because if I run, the party’s base will have its say, and I won’t lose. They fear the people’s anger.”
He later added “If I am such a bad president, why don’t they let me lose?”
The infighting between Kasselakis and the old guard of the left-wing SYRIZA has been ongoing for months. Kasselakis was elected party president in September 2023, but a vote of no confidence last month ousted him from the role. Kasselakis recently expressed intent to run again, but his candidacy was barred amid further internal strife and accusations from both sides. Kasselakis has since responded defiantly, urging supporters to remain in the party and push for change in the upcoming congress, while SYRIZA emphasized the legitimacy and finality of the decision to block him.
On the Tuesday night television interview, Kasselakis explained he looks to secure a majority of delegates for the party congress scheduled for the beginning of November, thus overturning the central committee decision to bar him, and run as a candidate.
As part of this dredging of support, Kasselakis pushed for people to register on a website he has created, called “Our Own SYRIZA.” This website is not actual registration in the SYRIZA party, but rather a way for Kasselakis to gauge his base of support.
Kasselakis even insisted that he should remain party president until the leadership elections: “I accept the decision of the Central Committee to depose me, however I should remain the party’s president and lead the party to the Congress and the election of a leader,” he stated. “The extraordinary Congress approves the nominations. The upcoming Congress can decide what it wants. We will be here until the end.”
Kasselakis rejected the idea of forming a different political party, “We already have a party – SYRIZA. I’m not leaving it. I’ve made a commitment not to betray the party’s members.”
