As the time for the extraordinary conference of SYRIZA (November 8-10) approaches, the relentless civil war, which has been raging for two months, will take on the dimensions of a total rupture. Especially if the final results that will come out today Sunday (3/11) from the congressional election do not suit one side or the other, the end of this extreme 13-month relationship is inevitable. It will simply clarify who, how and when they will leave.
Since yesterday Saturday (2/11) the first part of the split has been developing. The process of nominating those who will have the right to participate, speak and vote in the highest body will shape the balance accordingly. In other words, which bloc will command the conference, having the majority power to pass its proposals. First through the bureau and then through the rest of the body.
People from the party with a long career in the field estimated that the participation will not even be the expected. Involvement in the pre-conference dialogues was limited and the same sources believed that a similar image would be repeated overall at the ballot box. “There has been largely a lack of interest,” an executive with knowledge of the situation observed in discussions.
The majority of the members had not shown any zeal to get involved, expressing disappointment, and as everything indicates the process will end up being of a reduced extent. The largest volume is set to go to the polls today (10:00-18:00), but Saturday’s sample was not encouraging.
Elections of congressmen in SYRIZA in a climate of doubt
Be that as it may, the process will continue to be warlike, as it proved in practice on the first day. Already from Saturday morning the episodes were consecutive.
They started with “if you don’t vote for delegates this weekend, they won’t let me run. The legally elected president of SYRIZA will be a disqualified president of SYRIZA. Bureaucracy and mechanisms will have won instead of your voice” by Stefanos Kasselakis.
The continuation came from Koumoundourou who, through circles, replied that “it is unprecedented what Stefanos Kasselakis is attempting, with fake news, creating a parallel mechanism inside and outside the party, maintaining and inflating a climate of tension, slandering the procedures”.
What happened to Agios Dimitrios with the ballot box
Then the extreme incident occurred in Agios Dimitrios. On the one hand, the majority denounced falsification of the ballot box by the president of the electoral commission belonging to the Kasselakis wing. On the other hand, the protagonist and coordinator of OM filed a lawsuit alleging “set-up provocation” in order to be removed from his position. The fanaticism that prevailed was reflected in the intervention of the Police.
This fact activated the staff of Stefanos Kasselakis who at the same time was touring various polling centers (Polygono, Ilisia). Immediately the former president of SYRIZA made a new post urging the members to “don’t leave”. On the contrary, “persist until the end” in order, as he emphasized in his message, “to restore Democracy to our party”.
In fact, he himself took on telephone service duties, from his “headquarters” in Tavros, in order to give directions to those who called.
“Problems have been dealt with, statutory procedures”
Koumoundourou reacted to all this with her announcement immediately after the end of the first day of the elections.
In her text she spoke of “a great democratic process” and at the same time provided answers to all the issues raised by the opposing side.
According to what was communicated by the party headquarters:
- As of Friday, the SYRIZA-PS Organizational Office had completed sending the lists of party members to all Prefectural Committees.
- As in all electoral processes and congresses, so too now there were problems and they were dealt with in the best possible way, rather than specific strategies aimed at the opposite. Regarding the last registrations made through isyriza, since they were made on time, they were identified and participated normally in the electoral process.
- All procedures were initiated within the framework of the statute and the decisions of the Central Committee, which is the competent body for conducting the Conference.
Why Athens and Thessaloniki hold the keys to SYRIZA
From the facts it became clear that Sunday will also be a day with spikes on both sides.
In all this explosive and highly polarized scene, the inevitable – as calculated – phenomenon of widespread abstinence has automatically transferred the interest to parts of the urban centers. Where SYRIZA has always been more networked, strong and compact.
Out of the 700 organizations throughout the country, those in Athens / Attica, Thessaloniki, Patras / Achaia, Heraklion and Ioannina are the ones that will strongly influence the final outcome. The game in these will be played, according to the calculations of the staffs.
For the rest of the region, it was not excluded that the percentage of those who will eventually come to the polling stations will be disappointing. A fact that at the end of the day will also define the measure of representation (from 1/40 to 1/60) in the highest body.
The information stated that hundreds of SYRIZA members appeared aloof and showed no interest in representing the OM they belong to. However, “all this has nothing to do with the election of delegates and the election of the president that will follow,” a specific source explained to Vima.
Therefore, what will happen as a whole in Athens and Thessaloniki as a matter of priority acquires a pivotal character. Next come the other big cities of the territory that fall into the battle with more than 20 organizations.
The first results before the final battle
Both internal party “blocs” have developed dynamics that they consider sufficient to prevail in the whole.
Already from Saturday, leaking the first results from the few numerical polling stations, they were trying to pass out a vanguard trend. Each side declared itself satisfied with the course of the battle and awaited the validation of its victory on Sunday night.
“The first battle was won”
They said the Kasselaki group was celebrating the fact that in Artemisa and Polygonos they elected 13 and 10 congressmen against none of the majority. In fact, officially the Press Office of the former president was talking late Saturday night about a percentage of 61.3% of those departments that had completed the counting.
“The base has spoken and the fight continues tomorrow for the restoration of democracy. Thank you to all the members who fight to make our voices heard. The first battle was won. We are just getting started” claimed the former president’s staff.
In exactly the same line and the midnight posting of St. Kasselakis. “Yesterday the first voice was heard. Today, the slogan “The Left is prohibited from excluding” will be heard throughout the country.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your presence at the polls yesterday. You became the first ray of light in SYRIZA after a long time.
Today is the big day.
Be everyone at the polls.
A river of Democracy that will sweep lists, mechanisms, exclusions,…— Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis) November 2, 2024
“It peddles vulgar lies with alleged results”
At the same time, of course, the other wing broadcast 20-10 in Corfu, 5-1 in PPC, 6-2 in Kapandriti and 5-0 in Anogeia (signed by Polakis). That’s why he mockingly commented and comparing the opposing numbers that “Stefanos Kasselakis, loyal to his Trumpian practices, constructs his own reality. Using the delegates as tools, he peddles vulgar lies with alleged results. The results so far are clear and the majority’s victory so far comfortable.”
“Stefanos Kasselakis, with official announcements as a de facto new party, continues to attempt to discredit SYRIZA – PS. We will not contribute to this attempt at ridicule. After all, the conference is near and all the lies will quickly backfire on him. After all, the same was claimed at the meeting of the Central Committee until it collided head-on with the truth. He is so “good” at counting,” the same sources meaningfully added.
What does the majority in SYRIZA expect?
The majority within Koumundouros believes that its power in the governing bodies will be verified in the end at the ballot box of the grassroots. According to its executives, the appropriate pre-work with the party mechanisms had been done in order to ensure a comfortable representation of the nearby members at the conference.
“Eleven months ago he was unknown, now we know him” he had said a few days ago about St. Kasselakis Yiannis Mantzourakis (member of the KE), expressing a large part of the 87.
If her optimistic predictions are confirmed, the wing in question is estimated to control up to 65% of the body. From then on, she will take care of her representation in the presidency so as to block the attempt of Stefanos Kasselakis to annul his removal and exclusion from the presidential elections.
What is Stefanos Kasselakis hoping for?
The former leader of SYRIZA will continue with the same intensity the exhortations to those members who had time to register or update their status.
He himself understands that the smaller the participation, the more difficult, if not impossible, it is to secure the number of delegates he needs to achieve his goal and to lift the decisions to “ostracize” him from SYRIZA. Of course, it is understood that he will insist on attacking those who are in front of him, while looking for alliances that will probably be useful to him in the future.
In any case, from Sunday evening and before the final stretch of five days for the extraordinary conference that defines the future of SYRIZA, the landscape will begin to blur.
Where will the presidential candidates vote?
Meanwhile, the only one of the leadership contenders who already voted was Sokratis Famellos. The Member of Parliament B’ Thessaloniki came and cast his vote in the ballot box of OM Thermi.
Today Chania Member of Parliament Pavlos Polakis will vote in the Moschatos OM and MEP Nikolas Farandouris in the Pallini-Geraka polling station.
As far as Stefanos Kasselakis is concerned, he will exercise his right in the 3rd OM of Peristeriou.
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