Stefanos Kasselakis

A day after being expelled from SYRIZA, Nikos Filis, a former education minister, launched an attack on the new leader of the leftist opposition party, Stefanos Kasselakis, drawing a parallel between him and former US President Donald Trump.

The internal strife raging within main opposition SYRIZA, with the expulsion of top officials by new leader Stefanos Kasselakis causing aftershocks that are reverberating across the country's political scene as the specter of a split looms and the creation of a new left-wing party is becoming increasingly likely.

Three leading members of main opposition SYRIZA have said the party is facing a "very serious crisis" and have called for an immediate meeting of the party's political secretariat.

Three senior members of the main opposition have slammed an overnight decision by SYRIZA's new leader to expel them for openly criticising his views, saying that it is up to the party's ethics committee to push out members.

The new leader of the opposition, Stefanos Kasselakis, began his tenure as leader of the left-wing SYRIZA party by making some modest personnel changes that have already resulted in pushback.

Also, Kasselakis failed to persuade his main rival for the party leadership, lawmaker Effie Achtsioglou, to take any leadership role in the party or the parliamentary group.

For a democracy to function properly it needs not only an efficient government, but also a strong opposition able to offer, both in Parliament and elsewhere, constructive criticism and viable alternative solutions to the problems facing the country.

Main opposition SYRIZA expects that at least 55,000 members will take part in the Sunday ballot to elect a new leader, which is, however, a far cry from the 152,193 in May 2022, when former leader Alexis Tsipras won the race without a rival for the presidency.

However, the candidacy of outsider Stefanos Kasselakis has apparently revitalized the process. 

The sudden emergence of Stefanos Kasselakis as a contender in SYRIZA's upcoming leadership election has ignited a spectrum of reactions. Some speculate that he has been brought in from the US to infuse SYRIZA with Atlanticism, while others insinuate that he's been groomed by Goldman Sachs to undermine the Left from within.

SYRIZA is holding its leadership contest Sunday, following the party's drubbing in a double national election earlier this year. A potential low turnout, influenced by the disappointing election results and lackluster campaigns of the main contenders, may undermine the legitimacy of the new leader.

Much has been and will be written about the rather unexpected candidacy of Stefanos Kasselakis for the leadership of SYRIZA, the leftist main opposition in Greece. Whether it will resonate with the members and voters of SYRIZA will become evident very soon. But this concerns the party.