A now almost daily “bulletin” of infighting and recriminations emanating from main opposition SYRIZA party on Wednesday witnessed the expulsion of one high-profile deputy from the party’s Parliamentary group, her stout refusal to give up the seat in tandem with an attack against party leader Stefanos Kasselakis, and framed with the snap replacement of the head of its Parliamentary group upon demand by the latter.
The day began with the fallout of a late Tuesday vote by the leftist party’s Parliamentary group to replace its up-until-now head, Socrates Famellos, with former minister Nikos Pappas, with the latter viewed as an ally of the increasingly beleaguered Kasselakis. A total of 17 SYRIZA deputies voted in favor, 12 against and four “sat on the fence” with a ‘present’ vote. Only hours earlier, Famellos had refused to resign and demanded a motion of censure be filed against him.
Kasselakis participated in the meeting via a video call from western Crete, where he is due to get married in the coming days to his American partner in a civil ceremony.
SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis speaks to reporters during a visit on Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the party’s offices in the Cretan port city of Hania (Chania).
Pappas, a controversial former minister, was himself unanimously (13-0) convicted by a special court comprised of appellate-level justices of misdemeanor charges stemming from an ill-fated attempt by a leftist coalition government (2015-2019) to establish and operate a “pro-government” television station broadcasting nationally, as the justices said. A 2,000-page decision detailed the guilty verdict against him, replete with references to anti-institutional and unconstitutional actions and omissions by Pappas when he served as the relevant minister of digital policy, telecommunications and media.
Former minister Nikos Pappas
The day progressed with the sacking of Athina Linou, among the more prominent main opposition SYRIZA members in Parliament and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Athens. Kasselakis then issued a statement which, among others, called for Linou to resign and hand over her seat to the runner-up in her north Athens election district.
Kasselakis claimed that Dr. Linou’s explanations over claims of mismanagement of a NGO she founded and led were insufficient and left more questions unanswered. The charges of mismanagement and corruption have been repeatedly and vociferously aired by another of the leftist party’s most prominent-cum-bombastic deputies, former minister Pavlos Polakis.
The Cretan general surgeon and former deputy health minister in Alexis Tsipras’ coalition government has bitterly attacked Linou after she took the side of the current health minister’s legal adviser during a Parliament committee’s sessions, tearfully apologizing to the woman over what many critics called Polakis’ ad hominem and sexist comments.
“I’m not going to resign as a member of the Greek Parliament, nor will I surrender the seat that was bestowed to me by my 25,000 or more voters,” Linou shot back in the afternoon in response to Kasselakis’ demand.
File photo: Athina Linou
She also said she won’t tolerate any “non-existent culpability” relating to her Prolepsis Institute and asked, rhetorically, when the opposition SYRIZA president managed to read all 459 pages of information, “which prove the impeccable management (of the Institute)”.
Finally, she accused Kasselakis of participating in what she called Polakis’ malicious slander against her, of behaving as an unsolicited judge in the dispute, and terming his demand for her to resign her Parliament seat as “morally and rationally unfounded”.
