Greece’s Syriza party cracked up further over the weekend and is about to officially lose its status as the country’s main opposition.
The party’s recently deposed leader Stefanos Kasselakis announced on Saturday the creation of a new political movement, taking at least four MPs with him.
Speaking to a large cheering crowd outside his new headquarters, the U.S. expat declared that “Syriza has closed its democratic chapter” and positioned himself as the leader of a new, progressive political force.
“Today is a joyful day because a movement of democracy, free citizens, and progress is being created,” he said and wished “good luck” to those remaining in Syriza. “We are creating a movement from society, for society,” he added and told his supporters that they will decide how it will be called.
“The party will be yours, and I will be your servant,” Kasselakis said.
The move comes a day after Syriza officially confirmed that Kasselakis would not be able to run again for the party leadership in elections set for Nov. 24, with a runoff on Dec. 1 if necessary.
Scenes of chaos unfolded with hundreds of Kasselakis supporters — known as “Kasselistas” — trying to storm the makeshift venue, claiming that they were deliberately excluded. Scuffles, pushing, verbal attacks and booing were reported, while police and fire service were summoned to provide security.
Amid the turmoil, four candidates for the leadership — MPs Sokratis Famellos and Pavlos Polakis, MEP Nikolas Farantouris and actor Apostolos Gletsos — were formally confirmed.
The left-wing Syriza, which governed Greece from 2015 to 2019, has been facing an existential crisis since it was crushed in last year’s election by conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. That defeat sparked the resignation of Syriza’s charismatic leader, Alexis Tsipras.
In September 2023, Kasselakis was elected from nowhere to head Syriza. Since then, the party has been mired in toxic infighting.
Kasselakis, a former Goldman Sachs trader, faced criticism over his opinions on the economy, NATO, and Israel, which were seen as far apart from that of the left. The legitimacy of his wealth declaration was questioned. A media tour of his posh apartment in a rich Athenian neighborhood, while employees at the party newspaper and radio station were left unpaid for months, was also heavily criticized.
Last November, dozens of members left Syriza and created the New Left party. The discord has swelled since the party’s poor performance in June’s EU elections, with Kasselakis maintaining an aggressive stance against the majority of the party’s members and particularly toward his predecessor, Tsipras.
He was eventually blocked from standing as a candidate for the Syriza leadership after he sent a legal threat to the party last month.
Since Friday evening, four MPs have announced they are leaving Syriza, while some eight more could follow them.
Until Friday, Syriza had 35 MPs in the Greek parliament, followed by Socialists Pasok with 31 MPs, which means that by Monday Pasok could probably have replaced it as the country’s main opposition.
