Panos Skourletis

"Umbrella," the left-wing faction of the main opposition SYRIZA party, led by former Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, has officially announced it has quit the party.

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis has called on the main opposition party to hold an internal referendum on the expulsion of "four party members who brutally insulted all of us."

Nikos Voutsis, former speaker of Parliament, announced on Friday that he is departing from the main opposition SYRIZA party. 

His decision follows a similar announcement made earlier in the day by another prominent party figure, Panos Skourletis.

Top officials and hundreds of members of the main opposition party published a document on Thursday in which they raised further concerns about the direction SYRIZA has taken since the elections of its new leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, as turmoil within the party continues to brew. 

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.

A large number of veteran politicians, former ministers and celebrities from the arts, sports and journalistic fields failed at the final hurdle on Sunday as voters turned their backs on them.

Greece's ruling conservatives and the leftist opposition clashed in Parliament Thursday ahead of a no-confidence vote Friday.

The motion was submitted by SYRIZA Wednesday over a wiretapping scandal involving politicians and journalists.

The government and the main opposition on Tuesday continued their clash over the education bill, which, notably, provides for the introduction of a police corps into universities.

Wednesday's final vote on the bill will coincide with a protest staged by teachers' associations of all education levels, as well as university students' and parents' associations.

The political secretariat of main opposition SYRIZA has decided that the party's new name will not be decided via a referendum because of concerns it may cause divisions. 

Instead, the party's Central Committee will convene on February 15-16 and attempt to reach consensus on the issue. 

The planned referendum to change the name of SYRIZA has reportedly become a source of acrimony within the leftist party as it is opposed by its more radical wing.