Respondents to SYRIZA were surprised by the questionnaire, with which Stefanos Kasselakis asks the members to vote on identity issues of the party. The reactions from top executives are fierce, while for now only Theodora Tzakri has defended the Kasselakis move.
The questionnaire asks members for their opinion on whether SYRIZA should change its name and logo and whether they consider the party Left or Centre-Left. He also asks them to answer if they want Stefanos Kasselakis to make radical changes and to give their opinion on whether the current structure of SYRIZA is effective and if they are satisfied with “the response of the Bodies”.
Read also: Stefanos Kasselakis: “The new SYRIZA will belong to its members and friends – A lot will change”
“A lot will change”
It is certainly unprecedented for the party of Koumoundourou that such major changes come up for discussion, without actually having been discussed in the relevant party bodies.
Also, many consider that these questions should have been submitted by Stefanos Kasselakis much earlier, so that they could be included in the pre-conference dialogue in the Member Organizations.
“A lot will change in the new SYRIZA that starts with our conference next week” Stefanos Kasselakis mentioned in his first post, which has caused a disturbance at the internal party level.
“In the SYRIZA I envision, the president and the institutions first listen to the base and then decide, taking it into account” says Stefanos Kasselakis in his new post and adds:
“I know it’s unusual for the political scene in our country, but to speak to society again we have to go beyond ourselves and listen to society. Giving voice to members has been a key commitment of mine since the very beginning, when I ran for SYRIZA president. After all, the progressive world has been calling us “change everything” since 2019.”
Reactions
The MP for Arta and deputy speaker of the Parliament, Olga Gerovasili, argued that such issues “they are not placed in the public sphere since they have not been placed neither in the positions, nor in the public sphere, nor in the internal party dialogue of the party members”.
He also requested the extraordinary convening of the Political Secretariat and the Central Committee, before the start of the Congress on Thursday.
“That is, before this (the conference) de facto developed into a conference to dissolve the party that Alexis Tsipras brought to govern the country and which he handed over to his successor in the position of official opposition” features features…
Read also: Olga Gerovasili: Requests an extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly and the Central Committee for the iSYRIZA questionnaire
“To regain his seriousness…”
“It is unacceptable that the president has not submitted his positions on these issues to the party organs. I find it unacceptable that he is putting out a questionnaire. We don’t measure” Christos Spirtzis emphasized to ERT and added:
“SYRIZA obviously has to make very big changes, but not in the direction of the questionnaire, in the direction of regaining the seriousness it has lost in the last months and also regaining its credibility…”.
Also reviewed by Panos Rigas
“Five days before the top process of the 4th Congress of our party SYRIZA PS, unprecedented situations and processes appear” says Panos Rigas, who has supported Stefanos Kasselakis in the past.
“The appearance of a questionnaire on identity issues that are conference issues without me knowing as a member of the General Assembly the need and expediency, voluntarily by the president, does not contribute to the collective battle that we have to fight. The president must immediately take the initiative for consultation” mentions among other things.
Support from Tzakri
“Let’s not prevent the discussion from getting to the point. There are no blasphemous questions excluded. There is no more room left for procedural objections, nor can there be room for the ambitions of chieftains at the critical moment” emphasizes the Secretary of the SYRIZA Committee, Theodora Tzakri, who on the one hand supports the Kasselakis initiative, on the other hand leaves suspicions of “leaders”.
Crucial week
The Central Organizing Committee of the Conference will meet on Monday afternoon. A meeting that is expected with intense interest as it will be seen whether the majority of executives agree or disagree with the Kasselakis initiative. At the same time, the president of SYRIZA will be in London and will speak at an LSE event.
All this, at a time when it is expected to see if there will be political sanctions against Pavlos Polakis and Nina Kasimati because of the stance they took on the bill for same-sex couples. The most likely scenario is that there will be a total internal party reshuffle, with the Cretan MP not holding the position of coordinator of the Departmental Heads.
And of course from Thursday to Sunday the 4th Congress of SYRIZA will take place. The attitude of the members of the party will be clearly seen there, as political conclusions are expected to be drawn both from the body’s reactions during the speeches and from the votes…
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