Greece’s major opposition party SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance is teetering on the verge of a split, with the leftist party undergoing a rapid political and ideological shift since the newly-elected leader, Stefanos Kasselakis – a former banker and businessman took over at the end of September.
In the latest of a series of significant departures from the party, Panos Skourletis, who had served as Interior Minister under former leader Alexis Tsipras has resigned.
His resignation comes in the wake of the crucial central committee meeting on November 11-12, with Stefanos Kasselakis announcing that he is not backing down.
SYRIZA suffered resounding back-to-back defeats to conservative New Democracy (ND) in the recent national elections under the leadership of Alexis Tsipras, resulting in the election of more moderate, and virtually unknown until before the party electoral process Stefanos Kasselakis.
The new president of SYRIZA sent a stern message to a cadre of party members dubbed the “Umbrella”, a group that has openly voiced its disagreement about the path the traditionally hard-core leftist party has adopted and convened until the early hours deciding to withdraw from SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance.
Kasselakis and his associates appeared unyielding in the face of the move, while Panos Skourletis and Nikos Voutsis, another high profile member from the SYRIZA “old guard” announced today, through their letters, their withdrawal without waiting for the Central Committee meeting.
Stefanos Kasselakis insists: “We will move forward. Let them not underestimate us. We will all move forward in the party with solutions, with policies, by highlighting the team’s work.” He added that the SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance must be elected in power, emphasizing, “We will not back down.”
Kasselakis posted a video on social media, stating that tomorrow he will call on the party’s Central Committee to hold referenda by the registered members and friends of the party for the ousting of the 4 politicians, namely Nikos Filis, Panos Skourletis, Dimitris Vitsas (former SYRIZA Minister), and Stefanos Tzoumakas.
