SYRIZA’s Political Secretariat has fully closed the door on Stefanos Kasselakis’s bid for the party presidency.
“After the deadline for the submission of nominations for the presidency of the party, and in accordance with the decisions of the Central Committee, the nominations for approval at the conference are: Apostolos Gletsou, Pavlos Polakis, Sokratis Famellou, and Nikos Faradouris.” stated the party’s political secretariat today.
In the statement, the Political Secretariat touted commitment to a democratic, and unified approach to party elections, and snubbed Kasselakis specifically though not by name, stating: “Different misleading registers, separate buildings, references to coups and dictatorships are choices that are offensive to our history and antagonistic to our perspective.”
Kasselakis was ousted as SYRIZA party president after a vote of no confidence last month. Kasselakis expressed intent to run again, but his candidacy was barred amid infighting in early October. Kasselakis has since responded defiantly, urging supporters to remain in the party and push for change in the upcoming party congress, even creating a website to collect a list of supporters and a leasing office space for his camp.
Kasselakis maintains that the upcoming party congress should hold the final say on his candidacy, not the party’s Political Secretariat. He has denied the accusations that he is attempting to form a splinter party.
Beyond internal elections, SYRIZA mentioned several issues in its statement, including advocating for an increase in the minimum wage, stronger labor protections, and higher pensions. They raised concerns about Greek-Turkish relations, called for WWII reparations for Germany, among other issues.
