Another member of parliament has defected from the SYRIZA party. Rania Thraskia, an MP for Thessaloniki, sent her letter of independence to the President of the Parliament, Kostas Tasoulas, on Tuesday.
Thraskia is the ninth MP to leave the leftist party after the first split, where 11 MPs left and formed the New Left splinter party last year.
Since the elections, there have been so many defections and removals from all the parties, particularly from the radical left party, which has lost almost a quarter of its seats, that there are now more independents in parliament than there are members of some parties.
For their part, the party released a tart statement asserting that rather than declaring herself independent, Thraskia should have returned the seat to the party. They argue there is a larger plan of centrists to liquidate their party, but “they will soon find out that the people are relentless against those who violate their will to have SYRIZA be the country’s official opposition.”
The leftist party has endured infighting, defections, the loss of its status as the official parliamentary opposition, and declining public support, all in the last few months.
The most recent approval rating polls rank it in fifth, garnering only a 7.1% approval rating, with centrist party PASOK-KINAL having firmly established itself as the main opposition political force to the ruling center-right party of New Democracy (ND).
The party’s newly elected president, Socrates Famellos, has promised to rebuild the party but faces an uphill battle.
