SYRIZA: The new split paves the way for PASOK to become the new main opposition

Unprecedented shifts in political and parliamentary balances are caused by SYRIZA‘s new split.

The mass resignation of MPs directly threatens to remove the title of the main opposition from Koumoundourou and transfer it to PASOK. At the same time, it is possible to form a new parliamentary group, the 10th in the current Parliament and the 2nd formed from within SYRIZA following the creation of the “New Left.”

Already from Saturday morning, just a few hours after the dramatic start of the Congress, Stefanos Kasselakis announced that he is leaving SYRIZA to lead a new movement. This was followed by the statements of independence by Alexandros Avlonitis (MP of Corfu), Petros Pappas (Kilkis), Rallia Christidou (Southern Athens sector), and Kyriaki Malama (Chalkidiki). Four others stated that they would resign from their parliamentary duties and proceed, for the time being, with a “white strike”: Theodora Tzakri, Giorgos Gavrilos, Giannis Sarikiotis, and Giota Poulou.

However, with four MPs expressing their intention to become independent, the strength of SYRIZA’s parliamentary group falls to 31 members, equal to that of PASOK’s parliamentary group.

Nevertheless, in the event of a tie, the title of the main opposition remains with SYRIZA, as per the general Article 19 of the Parliament’s Rules: “The order of Parliamentary Groups is determined by their strength in the number of MPs. In the case of a tie, the Parliamentary Group of the party that received more votes in the elections from which the Parliament emerged prevails. The newly formed Parliamentary Group follows the equivalent older one.”

However, if there are more departures from SYRIZA’s parliamentary group, a development that is quite likely (or if at least one independent MP joins PASOK), then the title of the leader of the main opposition will be transferred to PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis.

It should be noted that Mr. Kasselakis, following the announcement of the creation of a new political entity, is likely to seek parliamentary representation, which can only be obtained by forming a new parliamentary group with at least 10 independent MPs.

At the same time, the upcoming departure of the four from SYRIZA’s parliamentary group increases the pool of independent MPs to 18, making them the 5th largest power in Parliament, with only 3 fewer members than KKE and 7 more than the Greek Solution party.

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