Stefanos Kasselakis: “I am withdrawing the legal notice so they have no excuse”

Stefanos Kasselakis announced via a social media post that he is withdrawing the legal notice he had sent to the Central Committee and the Political Secretariat of SYRIZA. According to him, he did this “to remove any excuses,” addressing those he believes are attempting to exclude him from SYRIZA’s internal elections.

In his post, Kasselakis indirectly addressed Olga Gerovasili, responding to her accusations that he spoke about changing the political system, a claim that could justify his exclusion from the elections. He clarified that during his interview on ANT1, he said, “the vision for the political system is participatory direct democracy,” which, in his view, does not conflict with the Constitution, which “provides for the possibility of citizen-led legislative initiatives.”

Regarding the internal elections, Kasselakis remarked, “I ask those who are fighting to exclude me from the elections for SYRIZA’s presidency to do so because I don’t put sugar in my coffee. It’s better than distorting our party’s history, struggles, and proposals towards participatory direct democracy.”

Kasselakis also addressed the legal notice he had sent regarding the leak of his financial disclosure, stating, “I am explicitly withdrawing my legal protest, so there are no excuses.”

According to information from protothema.gr, party members seeking to exclude Kasselakis from the elections reacted by questioning if, by withdrawing the legal notice, he is also withdrawing his signature as SYRIZA’s president.

For now, the extraordinary Central Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow has not been postponed. Party majority members emphasized that tomorrow’s meeting will not only focus on the potential “criminalization” of the party but also on the challenge to the decisions made by SYRIZA’s former president.

Kasselakis’s full post:

“In my interview yesterday with Mr. Hatzinikolaou, I stated that ‘the vision for the political system is participatory direct democracy.’

As reported by many news sites, in today’s meeting, a member of the Political Secretariat (who believes that in our democracy I should not have a second chance) referred to this statement by saying: ‘He spoke about changing the political system, which is grounds for excluding a party from national elections due to disrespect for the Constitution.’

1. I reference Article 73, paragraph 6 of the Constitution, which, after the 2019 revision, allows for citizen-led legislative initiatives, meaning that citizens can submit law proposals to Parliament.
2. I also cite a publication in which 33 SYRIZA-PS MPs asked in 2022: ‘Three years have passed since the constitutional revision, and this right remains inactive because an implementing law is required, and there appears to be no legislative intent from the Greek government (i.e., New Democracy). This practice is a disregard for the Constitution, citizens, and democratic institutions.’
3. I inform you that SYRIZA’s Justice Department has already drafted the implementing law for Article 73, paragraph 6 of the Constitution, which will be submitted to Parliament soon.
4. I list several proposals for constitutional revisions with a direct democratic character (e.g., a law proposal signed by 100,000 citizens, holding local referendums) that SYRIZA, as a government, had introduced but were not passed during the final stage of the constitutional revision, after New Democracy took parliamentary majority. ND consistently refuses to strengthen participatory democracy in our country.
5. I ask those who are fighting to exclude me from the SYRIZA leadership elections to do so because I don’t put sugar in my coffee. That is preferable to distorting the very history, struggles, and proposals of our party toward participatory direct democracy.
6. As the purpose of my legal notice has been achieved, both by the swift disclosure of the financial records of the other candidates and by the clear condemnation of the leak by the Political Secretariat on October 8, 2024; and as my primary motivation was to protect the personal data of every SYRIZA member and leader (yesterday it was me who was the victim of an illegal leak, tomorrow it could be someone else); and as I have repeatedly stated from the beginning, I would never follow the legal route; for these reasons, I am formally withdrawing my legal protest, so there is no excuse.
7. Since both a free conference and free elections will take place, I recommend maturity, calmness, and sobriety. Rage is a bad advisor. Let’s all rise a little higher. At that height, we will meet the SYRIZA members who are patiently waiting to express their democratic vote.”

Tomorrow’s Central Committee meeting

Despite proposals for postponement, the meeting of SYRIZA’s Central Committee will proceed as scheduled, with key party figures refusing to reveal their full stance on the issue just yet. However, it’s expected that tomorrow’s session will address the legal notice, which the Political Secretariat deemed “unacceptable.”

Detailed statement by Tzakri:

The decision to hold a Central Committee (CC) meeting with the topic of administratively excluding Stefanos Kasselakis from the elections obviously undermines the electoral process and leads SYRIZA towards dissolution.

To the eight traditional extreme schismatic voices of the Political Secretariat, five more from the intermediates have been added: the president of the Parliamentary Group, Nikos Pappas, the party’s secretary Rania Svigkou, Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Maria Kouveli, and Giota Beloni, who, using the legal notice as a pretext, joined this bloc.

I am addressing these five and asking them to reconsider and retract. Particularly, I believe that the two legal professionals among them cannot support the restriction of someone’s political rights, especially if they exercise a legal right, as in this case with the legal notice. This is a legal fallacy, and above all, as MPs, members, and leaders of SYRIZA, we remain professionals.

Those of you who see this as a major issue can also take the necessary political initiatives, with the ultimate goal of pacification, while still acting in accordance with each individual’s beliefs.

I therefore appeal to the prudence of those who respect their own track record and legacy. I expect nothing from people who want to dismantle SYRIZA. They are capable of anything, even using every administrative measure to suppress the popular will and avoid its strict judgment. There is a need for a modus vivendi between the obvious Kasselakis-supporting majority at the grassroots and the anti-Kasselakis majority in the CC.

It should be noted that Theodora Tzakri personally proposed that the Central Committee meeting not take place at all, while Panos Rigas and Nikos Skorinis submitted a different proposal, calling for the CC to be postponed and for the five presidential candidates to sit at the same table to defuse the crisis and avoid the party’s fragmentation, a proposal supported by Olympia Teligioridou.

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