They formed a new group: Main opposition in Greece fractures

Eleven members of parliament who left the main opposition party in Greece, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), have formed a new parliamentary group.

The 11 MPs, which include individuals who served as ministers during the SYRIZA era, stated that their goal is not to oppose SYRIZA, but to oppose the ruling New Democracy party.

Efi Achtsioglou, Sia Anagnostopoulou, Nasos Iliopoulos, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Meropi Tzoufi, Theano Fotiou, Alexis Charitsis, SYRIZA's Western Thrace Turkish MPs Hüseyin Zeybek and Özgür Ferhat, who left the party on November 23, along with MPs Euclid (Efklidis) Tsakalotos and Petya Perka, who left the party in early November, will continue their parliamentary work under the "New Left" banner.

In early November, two MPs resigned from SYRIZA, while 9 others, including two Western Thrace Turks, decided to resign from the main opposition party, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), on November 23, citing the refusal of the party's new leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, and his leadership team to grasp and discuss the political essence of the problems facing the party and the country.

Consequently, the number of seats held by SYRIZA, which had earned the right to be represented by 47 MPs in the 300-seat parliament in the general elections held in June 2023, fell to 36.

KASSELAKIS'S RAPID RISE

In the presidential elections held in SYRIZA in September, Kasselakis took the leadership seat by surpassing his closest rival, Achtsioglou.

Kasselakis, who had not previously held a parliamentary or ministerial position, was introduced to SYRIZA in 2021.

Kasselakis became a parliamentary candidate in the May and June 2023 general elections at the invitation of former SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, who brought SYRIZA to power in 2015, but he did not qualify to enter parliament.

The 35-year-old Kasselakis, who immigrated to the US at the age of 14 as a full-scholarship student due to his outstanding success in mathematics and studied finance and economics, worked at Goldman Sachs for a time and subsequently founded his own company in the shipping industry.

BREAKAWAYS FROM THE PARTY

On the night of October 23, Kasselakis made a statement on social media requesting the expulsion of Panos Skourletis, Dimitris Vitsas, and Nikos Filis—some of the party's oldest members who had served in various ministerial roles during their time in power—on the grounds that they had been opposing SYRIZA in their television interviews for over 5 years.

Following this date, breakaways occurred in many sections of the party, including its youth branches.

News Source: AA