The presidential term of Stefanos Kasselakis in SYRIZA came to an ignominious end, as yesterday he fell from his position, after the motion of censure made by 100 members of his party, anointing him in this way, the first party leader to leave in this way.
With 163 votes in favor of the proposal and 120 against, the former – now – president of SYRIZA was forced to open the exit door from the party and… go home, in order to think about his political future from here on out.
Stefanos Kasselakis, the nomenclature and the… hoods
Angry, in his farewell speech launched a fierce attack against his “comrades” saying that “what I have been through a year now, you know everything. We have reached the point where the bureaucracy and the nomenclature of the party and the various factions that do not belong to the space of the Left, humiliate its honorable members, wearing them a hood.”
This attack took place because on Saturday (7.9.24) in the evening the majority of the executives of the Central Committee decided to vote by ballot (122 in favor – 86 against), which freed many executives in the relevant vote for the motion of censure. And this is because the truth is that several members of the KE, who work in the party, believed that by choosing the open vote, they would then have a problem. It should be noted, however, that in this process there was also some telephone voting, which was obviously obvious since the members who voted in this way declared their vote in a three-member committee.
The background of the Kasselakis “discount”
From Saturday night, the Kasselakis side showed that it started to lose strength and that everything that was leaked in the previous period, that is, that together with Nikos Pappa they had the majority of the KE, were more hopes and expectations than the objective reality. The final result of the motion of censure showed, in fact, that the problem of Stefanos Kasselakis in the party was much deeper than those who disagreed with him said.
Obviously, the question now is what the former SYRIZA president is thinking of doing. In other words, if he is considering filing a candidacy in the SYRIZA electoral process or if he chooses to form his own party. The decision is obviously very difficult as Stefanos Kasselakis lost the opportunity to lead SYRIZA to elections himself while he was president. Despite the fact that he accepted suggestions from the moderate members of his group, in the KE to appear as a unifier, saying that he will lead the party in the intra-party polls, he chose the division and the fierce attack against his “comrades”.
Addressing the executives of the KE in his keynote speech, he constantly said “us and you”, he talked about baronies and factions, compared them to the “truth group” of the ND, while regarding Alexis Tsipras he said that at the previous conference he “pulled the trigger”. His speech was so divisive that it surprised even his own people.
The next day for the former president of SYRIZA is obviously not easy. On the contrary, in fact. Given that he has now lost his luster and his supporters, everything indicates that he will have to fight hard to win back a part of his voters.
Opposite him in the battle for the leadership of SYRIZA (if he comes down as leader again) he will have his erstwhile ally, Pavlos Polakis – who also yesterday declared himself present for the leadership of the party -, who also appeals to the same pool of voters. Moreover, in the previous elections, the MP of Chania had openly helped him, while now he publicly declares “that the child cannot”.
The MEP of SYRIZA, Nikolas Farandouris, has also said that he will claim the leadership of the party, while a big question mark remains what Sokratis Famellos will do. Information indicates that the former head of the KO of SYRIZA wants to measure his strength and apparently make some alliances. If the “87” support him, it is considered certain that he will take the next step.
The role of Nikos Pappas
Big loser from yesterday’s developments is obviously Nikos Pappas, who in the previous period “threw all his cards” to Stefanos Kasselakis and today finds himself without a leader in the party. And not only that. Executives of the Kasselakis group claim that Nikos Pappas finally pulled the rug from under his feet and that is why the censure proposal against him was easily passed by the KE. -parapolitika