The path to collapse that SYRIZA is taking is (also) reflected in its parliamentary presence, which forms an unprecedented condition – the main opposition party is essentially non-existent.
The question that preoccupies the party’s MPs is an existential one: who will they go with and who will they leave behind when the fullness of time comes. With the “divorce” just around the corner, the members of the SYRIZA Parliamentary Group are walking their own road of martyrdom with obvious signs of disappointment, gloom and cancellation. “What to do, we will live this too” said a member of parliament who keeps a careful distance from the unimaginable happenings in his party.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to stay together”
The split, inevitable for many, will also involve KO and SYRIZA is in danger of losing its institutional position as the official opposition. It is enough for five of its MPs to go their own way, for PASoK to be “a caliph in the place of the caliph” (SYRIZA has 35 MPs and PASOK 31), a development that goes beyond its institutional dimension, as it will lose all its privileges official opposition, will constitute a heavy and unprecedented political humiliation.
This is something that worries many in the faltering SYRIZA, not the supporters of Mr. Stefanos Kasselakis excepted. Although the expectation, as things turned out, is that everyone will go their own way, it is not certain that this will happen, at least to the extent that the maintenance of the official opposition position is threatened.
Cool observers of the rapid developments inside SYRIZA do not rule out, despite the absolute dimension that exists, that the KO be kept alive and that no one takes responsibility for dropping the party from the post of major opposition.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to stay together” they say, surmising that although the substantive rupture has occurred, the formal rupture is not certain to follow. However, even in the event that Stefanos Kasselakis’ plans to be a candidate and re-claim the leadership fail and lead to the creation of a new party, which some are already discounting, MPs who move in his climate may remain in the KO of SYRIZA. As one of them typically said “the issue is where SYRIZA will go and not if some people leave” noting that “it is a matter of everyone’s dignity to stay in KO”.
The Kasselakis
Her statement Theodoras Tzakria close associate of the ousted president, that “I will stay in SYRIZA even if Kasselakis is not re-elected”is a sample of “Casselista” writing.
But also her resignation Iotas Poulos by the Central Committee of the party in protest against the manipulations of the majority, leaving open even to resign as coordinator of the department heads, while remaining a member of the KO, is indicative. Others again, such as Alexandros Avlonitis, leave open the possibility of exit (“If they don’t let Kasselakis be a candidate, in that case I’m thinking very seriously whether I’ll stay with SYRIZA” has declared), while the ardent “Kasselakikos” Petros Pappas has directly stated that if Mr. Kasselakis is excluded, then he will become independent.
In addition to the three aforementioned MPs, the “Kasselakis constellation” includes Petros Pappas, Nina Kasimati, George Gavrilos, Christidou Rally, Malama Sunday, Yannis Sarakiotis, Elena Akrita, Evangelos Apostolakis and Rania Thraskia. Seven of them recently appeared with the ousted president at the political event he organized in Nea Smyrni (Tzakri, Gavrilos, Sarakiotis, Poulos, Christidou, Malama, Avlonitis). While some of those who made up the majority that elected the then “elect” of Mr. Kasselakis Nikos Pappa as president of the KO, have chosen the safety distances (Vasilis Kokkalis, Alexandros Meikopoulos, Calliope Vetta), while the Rena Dourou, which was drawn up with Mr. Kasselakis, has its own agenda.
“Most will stay”
But what will the “Kasselakian” MPs do when the time comes? Estimates suggest that the majority of them will remain “in the fold”. “Three or four won’t take it. But the rest will stay” said characteristically one of them with an institutional role. Which means that even his own deputies will not follow Mr. Kasselakis, despite the gap that separates them from the “87”.
Will the New Left return?
An extension of what is taking place in SYRIZA reflexively concerns the New Left with a question lingering in the corridors of Parliament: will its MPs return once Mr. Kasselakis is out of the game for good, because of whom they left by founding their own KO.
Given the scheme’s electoral failure in the recent European elections, these scenarios intensify, but things are not simple at all. “The New Left does not change” said a local factor, referring to the party’s conference, which is actually held on the same dates as the SYRIZA conference (November 7-10 for NEAR and November 8-10 for SYRIZA). Which semiotically shows that the “ex” go their own way and are not willing to get involved in adventures.
The reunification scenario of SYRIZA is difficult
As people in the field point out, “there is no possibility of joining scenarios of the reunification of… “good SYRIZA””recalling that yes they left because of Kasselakis, but also those who are fighting him today were then opposite them and were photographed with him rejoicing for his victory over Efis Ahtsioglou.
At the center of their interest is the formation of a truly left-wing opposition and the formation of an alternative government proposal. They do not rule out that there may be reconstitutions in the future, but within a different landscape and always on the basis of programmatic and political autonomy. “Until the political map takes shape, there is no scope for reconstitution” says a NEAR executive. “Until then, courage, insight and reflection are needed” he notes meaningfully.
PaSoK and the New Left
The fluidity observed is not limited to what is taking place in the hibernating SYRIZA but also extends to PaSoK, in the wake of its re-election Nikos Androulakis. And it is not indifferent to the fact that executives of Harilaou Trikoupis are following with interest the political course of the New Left and do not hide their appreciation for persons such as its head Alexis Haritsis and other executives.
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