The question facing SYRIZA is no longer what kind of party it wants to be, but whether it will remain one at all.
Within hours on Friday, three more lawmakers announced they were leaving the parliamentary group of the party that governed Greece from 2015 to 2019: Olga Gerovasili, a deputy speaker of parliament and MP for Arta; Dionysis Kalamatianos; and Miltos Zamparas, who represents Aitoloakarnania. Vassilis Kokkalis of Larissa did not stop at leaving the group. After 11 years as an MP, he resigned his seat.
Under Greek electoral law, an MP who resigns hands the seat back to the party, which fills it with the next candidate on its 2023 ballot list. In Kokkalis’ case that is Yannis Karipidis. Lawmakers who instead declare themselves independent keep their seats and sit outside any parliamentary group, which is what most of the departing SYRIZA MPs have chosen to do.
But Karipidis himself is noncommittal. A few hours after the resignation of Kokkalis he told local news site onlarissa.gr that he intends to be sworn in and accept the seat, but added that once he has taken the oath he will see what his next moves are.
Once the current wave of departures is formally and precedurally completed, SYRIZA will be left with roughly 10 MPs. According to reports, one more MP is almost certain to exit the party. Nina Kasimati is widely expected to jump ship to PASOK. That leaves SYRIZA with eight active lawmakers: Rena Dourou and Pavlos Polakis, the two candidates for the leadership of the parliamentary group; Nikos Pappas; Yannis Amanatidis; Theofilos Xanthopoulos; Christos Giannoulis; Elena Akrita; and Giorgos Papailiou.
Two replacements are on the way, which should push the count back to 10 next week. Theodora Akriotou takes the Evia seat vacated by Simeon Kedikoglou, and Karipidis will take Kokkalis’ in Larissa.
High Stakes
The party’s political secretariat meets Friday afternoon, ahead of Saturday morning’s vote among those eight MPs on who will lead the parliamentary group. The central committee convenes afterward, where Pappas is the likely choice for party secretary. Under SYRIZA’s statutes, the leader is elected by the membership rather than by officials, and proposals are circulating to hold that vote in September.
Also on the agenda is whether SYRIZA contests the next national election on its own. That question hangs over former SYRIZA leader Sokratis Famellos, who has backed the idea of rallying behind the Greek Left Alliance, the new political vehicle launched by Alexis Tsipras, the former prime minister who led SYRIZA to power in 2015. According to the reporting, if the central committee votes for the party to run alone, Famellos leaving becomes a real possibility.
The losses reach beyond parliament
Apart from the vast exodus of MPs from the party, 63 members of SYRIZA’s central committee resigned on Thursday after submitting a joint letter, complaining of public attacks, personal feuds and practices that they said undermined decisions taken democratically. They expressed hope that Greece’s progressive space would rediscover its unity and that the left would again exist to defend democracy, the labor movement, the welfare state and citizens’ rights.
The mood at SYRIZA’s headquarters is described as heavy. More resignations and defections are expected, according to reporting by To Vima and Ta Nea.
