Veteran lawmaker Sokratis Famellos resigned as leader of Greece’s left-wing SYRIZA party on Thursday, saying his efforts to unite the country’s fragmented “progressive forces”, as he described the leftist spectrum, had failed amid mounting internal divisions and the rise of former prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ new political movement.
In a lengthy statement, Famellos said he had assumed the party leadership at its most difficult moment, aiming to rebuild SYRIZA as a “serious, collective, left-wing party” while promoting a broader progressive alliance capable of challenging the center-right government.
He said those efforts were thwarted by the refusal of main opposition PASOK and the New Left party to cooperate, as well as by the public rejection of collaboration from Tsipras’ newly established Greek Left Alliance (ELAS). Famellos also accused some SYRIZA cadres of undermining the party’s collective decisions from the outset, saying the same internal rivalries that contributed to the party’s decline after the 2023 election had resurfaced.
“I cannot support a different political plan. I resign from the presidency of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance,” he said, adding that he would retain his parliamentary seat and remain a party member.
Famellos concluded with an appeal for unity across the country’s leftwing spectrum, saying his resignation carried a single political message: that progressive forces must overcome divisions if they are to challenge ruling center-right New Democracy party.
According to To Vima, SYRIZA has faced an escalating internal crisis over the past month following Tsipras’ launch of ELAS, which has attracted defections from SYRIZA office-holders and officials while exposing deep disagreements over whether the party should merge into the new movement or preserve its independent identity.
Famellos had consistently argued in favor of broad “progressive convergence”, but his position came under increasing pressure from both internal critics and a wave of resignations ahead of a central committee meeting.
