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The drama of Syriza/ The decline of the left in Greece does not stop

2024-11-13 19:49:11Fokus SHKRUAR NGA KAKI BALI
Stefanos Kaselakis

Ten years ago the radical left party Syriza took power in Greece. Since its defeat in the 2023 elections, it has been declining. At the special party congress this weekend there was a lot of unrest.

The latest act in the drama of Greece's declining leftist party, Syriza, took place in a nightclub in Athens. An extraordinary congress was held there on Friday, to pave the way for the election of the new chairman of the party. New elections were necessary after party leader Stefanos Kaselakis was ousted in early September after just one year in office. But the former shipowner and ex-banker did not want to go away so easily and wanted to compete again. His supporters tried to pressure the delegates to accept his re-election. There were chaotic scenes as hundreds of so-called "kaselistas" tried to storm the conference venue. There were fights, pushing, verbal attacks and swearing. In the end, the police and firefighters were called to ensure safety.

The majority of delegates rejected the request of the Kaselists and decided that Kaselakis should no longer run for party leader in the elections scheduled for November 24, 2024. During his short time in office, the former Syriza leader aroused the displeasure of many party members, because he was never ready to work in the existing forums and put his political proposals there for discussion. Instead he wanted to address the people directly through tiktok, facebook or direct speeches on the streets.

Amid the turmoil at the Syriza party congress, four more candidates were officially confirmed: MPs Sokratis Famellos and Pavlos Polakis, MEP Nikolas Farantouris and actor Apostolos Gletsos. But according to observers, none of them will be able to reunite the once strong "coalition of the radical left" and bring it back to the center of political attention.

"Servant" of a new party

Ousted party leader Kaselakis then announced the establishment of a new party. He declared to a cheering crowd that Syriza had closed its democratic chapter and that a new force had to be born. "Today is a day of joy, because a movement of democracy, free citizens and progress is emerging", he said and wished those who remained in Syriza, "good luck".

Kaselakis' rally was accompanied by singer Sophia Vossou, who performed her song "It will be like spring". As a spring, the politician also presented the establishment of his new party, which according to his words will be an open, progressive and independent party. "We are creating a movement from society to society," he declared. His supporters must also decide on the name of the new party. "The party will be yours and I will be your servant," Kaselakis said.

Populist slogans

According to its founder, the new party should be "popular and not elitist". It should also bring right-wing citizens closer, who "may not agree with interventionism in public spending, or with our attitude towards many social issues, but who want for this country to be a legal state, implement reforms and respect social justice".

Four terms less

With Kaselakis, four of its 35 deputies left the Syriza parliamentary group. Thus this opposition party now has 31 seats in Greece's 300-seat parliament, as many as the social-democratic party Pasok. But it is expected that other MPs will also leave and Pasok will become the strongest opposition group.

In the last parliamentary elections in June 2023, Pasok won only 11.84 percent of the vote and it did not seem that it would be able to regain its old power as a party of many years in government, or as a strong opposition party. Meanwhile, Pasok has recovered somewhat and Syriza is fragmenting.

The invisible Alexis Tsipras

Syriza dramatically lost the June 2023 elections, falling from 31 to 17 percent. Its chairman Alexis Tsipras resigned and his successor, US-based shipowner and banker Kaselakis, was elected out of nowhere to head the party. Since then the party has been embroiled in bitter power struggles. In November 2023, hundreds of members left Syriza, among them 11 MPs, and founded the New Left party, which failed to overcome the three percent threshold in the 2024 European elections. Even for Syriza, the European elections were a disaster, it fell under 15 percent.

This defeat, combined with Kaselakis' narcissism and his views on the economy, NATO and Israel, which are seen as far from those of the left party, virtually programmed the new crisis and the next schism. Now the split has happened and the situation of what was once the largest party of the European left appears to be irreparable.

The drama of Syriza/ The decline of the left in Greece does not stop
Alexis Tsipras, the former leader of the Syriza party, who resigned after losing the elections in June 2023, has been plotting the dissolution of his party for 15 months.

But what does Alexis Tsipras do? The former party leader, who resigned after losing the elections in June 2023, has been overseeing the dissolution of his party for 15 months without intervention. He does not appear at party congresses, but allows his comrades to speak on his behalf. Like other former prime ministers in Greece, he has founded an institute that bears his name.

Instead of Syriza, Tsipras now deals with the Balkans and in international forums he tries to propose ideas for dealing with crises in the region. Maybe he hopes that one day he can return to the political scene as a savior of the progressive forces./ DW


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