Alexis Tsipras steps down as leader of SYRIZA. What’s next

In an unexpected but not surprising move after a crushing electoral defeat on June 25, Alexis Tsipras announced on Thursday at noon: he is stepping down as leader of the left-wing SYRIZA party and will not be a candidate for the election of a new leadership of the party.

This decision was taken after the meeting of the executive bureau of SYRIZA PA. It is worth noting that from Monday June 26, Tsipras was at home, refraining from public statements and visits to the party headquarters.

“The new SYRIZA is an immediate priority, – he emphasized from Zappeion. – I understand the need for a new wave in SYRIZA. And I decided to step aside so that she could pass. I have confidence in the human resources of our party. In the inexhaustible forces of society and the left. Therefore, I decided to propose the election of a new leadership by the members of the party, as provided for by its charter. Apply appropriate procedures immediately. In which, of course, I will not be a candidate. But I will be present before, during and after them”.

Tsipras said that “a negative election result can and should be the beginning. The electoral body gave SYRIZA a dual mandate. First, respond to the role of the main opposition. Which is always and de facto the role of the party, potentially able to come to power. And secondly, to change radically if she wants to again claim a worthy government role.

He noted: “We must fulfill this popular mandate. We must reorganize immediately and without delay. Let’s not let a single day be lost, both in confronting the New Democracy government and in confronting our own weaknesses, ailments and problems.”

Alexis Tsipras was first elected leader of the party in 2008 and remained in office until 29 June 2023. According to initial media reports, a new leadership election is due in July. So far, the names of candidates for the post of party leader have not been leaked to the press or statements.

Opinion of Athens News about the defeat of SYRIZA and the mistakes of Tsipras:

Tsipras remembered the betrayal of the national interests of Greece in the Treaty of Prespes with Skopje in 2018 and the tragic management of the 2015-2019 crisis in terms of consequences for the country. Tsipras seems to have “expired” as a political product. Now citizens are painfully admitting: “All our politicians are the same” and “The situation cannot be saved.” And it is SYRIZA that is to blame for this, which for many years ignited the people of Greece with bright political slogans, but, having come to power, completely abandoned its promises and became the same as the others … only much worse.

The fact is that the pandemic, and especially the rapprochement during this period of SYRIZA with the Mitsotakis government, became the political verdict of Alexis Tsipras, no matter how they refused to admit it in the party. Tsipras has become a systembut the citizens who voted for him wanted “anti-system”. They wanted a warrior A not a good administrator. This is exactly what Mitsotakis became, and in this he is much better than Tsipras.

After the unsuccessful elections on June 25, two factions appeared in the party: one wanted an immediate replacement of the leader, while the second wanted changes to take place after the municipal and local government elections in October 2023. Tsipras himself, on the night of the elections and the publication of the disastrous 17%, said that the change of leader should take place after the European elections in 2024.

The first faction won. And this means that most likely SYRIZA, as an alliance of 22 parties, will cease to exist. Parties without a leader, who previously was Tsipras, will quarrel and scatter. It’s only a matter of time.

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