Nine members of parliament from the leftist Syriza party announced on Thursday morning that they were breaking with Greece’s main opposition party to form their own parliamentary group.
A poll conducted by Opinion Poll and commissioned by Action 24 showed that the centre-left party ΠΑΣΟΚ would take second placeif elections took place today, overtaking the main opposition ΣΥΡΙΖΑ. The communists are breathing down their backs…
On the morning of November 23, European Deputy Dimitris Papadimoulis also announced his resignation from the party. The faction led by former Labor Minister Effie Ahtzioglu, known as 6+6, will seek cooperation with two MPs who recently left the party, namely ex-Finance Minister Euklides Tsakalotos and Peggy Perka. According to the law, at least 10 legislators are needed to form a group in the Greek parliament.
With these departures and depending on further developments, SYRIZA, which currently has 36 MPs, risks losing the position of “main opposition party” in relation to the socialist PASOK-KINAL (with 32 seats in parliament). The breakaway was an expected move following a caucus meeting earlier this week, further weakening the main opposition party now under the leadership of newcomer Stefanos Kasselakis.
Totally left the party 57 members of the “6+6” factionincluding legislators Efi Ahtsioglu, Nasos Iliopoulos, Alexis Haritzis, Sia Anagnostopoulou, Hussein Zeibek, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Meropi Tzoufi, Ozgur Ferhat and Theano Fotiou.
In a letter sent to Syriza’s secretariat, the splinter group said the party was facing a “crisis of disintegration” and accused new leader Stefanos Kasselakis of “anti-democratic practices.”
“The new party chairman and his leadership group refuse to acknowledge and discuss the political essence of the problem. Instead, they choose the interpretative scheme of the “enemy within” and the “fifth column”. When they do not choose attacks and insults, they resort to simplistic empty speech with general slogans.” , the faction said in a statement.
The group accused Kasselakis of “undemocratic behavior”, saying he was democratically elected but is not acting accordingly. His message is “a jumble of conflicting opinions without any depth,” the faction emphasized. The faction’s departure follows the mass resignation on Wednesday of 90 members of Syriza’s human rights sector and most of its secretariat.
In the second round of voting in September, Ahtzioglu lost to Kasselakis in the fight for the right to replace Alexis Tsipras as leader of Syriza, but “evil tongues” talk about a banal act of “buying and selling” the party.
Kasselakis’ policies have already led to SYRIZA losing some of its voters, as they say latest survey data.
A poll conducted by Opinion Poll and commissioned by Action 24 showed that the centre-left party ΠΑΣΟΚ would take second placeif elections took place today, overtaking the main opposition ΣΥΡΙΖΑ. The communists are breathing down their backs…
In the category of voting intentions, the ruling New Democracy received 31.1%, ahead of ΠΑΣΟΚ by 12.9%, while the left-wing ΣΥΡΙΖΑ took third place (11.9%). The communist KKE received 8.6%, ahead of the nationalist party “Greek Solution” (5.1%), “Niki” (3.2%), “Spartiates” (2.4%), “Sail of Freedom” (2.1 %) and MeRA25 (1.9%).
In the category of voting intentions, the ruling New Democracy received 31.1%, ahead of ΠΑΣΟΚ by 12.9%, while the left-wing ΣΥΡΙΖΑ took third place (11.9%). The communist KKE received 8.6%, ahead of the nationalist party “Greek Solution” (5.1%), “Niki” (3.2%), “Spartiates” (2.4%), “Sail of Freedom” (2.1 %) and MeRA25 (1.9%).
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