Stefanos Kasselakis

The countdown to the election for a new SYRIZA leader has been marred by court threats, verbal assaults, accusations and the presence of the police to maintain the security at party headquarters.

The office, traditionally used by the leader of the opposition, now belongs to the new SYRIZA Parliamentary Leader, Nikos Pappas.

The order to restrict entry was given by Mr. Pappas while he was away in Thessaloniki for official duties.

SYRIZA MP Pavlos Polakis, who has announced his intention to run for the party leadership in late November, expressed regret for having supported the recently ousted leader Stefanos Kasselakis during the vote that elevated him to the head of the main opposition party.

With 17 votes in favor, one against from Theodora Tzakri, and Olympia Teligioridou absent, the Political Secretariat of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance reaffirmed the Central Committee’s decision to remove Stefanos Kasselakis from his role as party president.

In a vote late Thursday, SYRIZA's political secretariat confirmed that Stefanos Kasselakis has been removed as leader of the main opposition following a weekend vote of no confidence by the party's central committee. Seventeen members voted in favor of his removal, with one dissenting vote from MP Theodora Tzakri.

Former SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis took to social media late on Thursday to condemn "unbelievable provocations - from fake dialogues to fake invitations."
 
Kasselakis' post was published on social media during an emergency meeting of the party's political secretariat and as a small group of people gathered outside SYRIZA headquarters to protest against his removal.
 

The issue of who holds legal and administrative responsibility within SYRIZA after Stefanos Kasselakis’ dismissal has been raised by his team through an official leak concerning today’s developments, shortly before the emergency meeting of the Political Secretariat.

The Ethics, Statute Implementation, and Certification Committee (EDEKAP) of SYRIZA has decided to convene an emergency meeting of the party’s Political Secretariat today at 8:00 PM. The meeting will address the atmosphere of dissent regarding the decision of the Central Committee to remove Stefanos Kasselakis from his leadership role.

The main opposition party's political secretariat will meet on Thursday afternoon to ratify a decision earlier this week to remove Stefanos Kasselakis from SYRIZA's helm.

Ousted SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis will not set up a new party and will remain in SYRIZA, one of his associates has said.

In an interview with Mega television, SYRIZA MP Theodora Tzakri said that she has been in daily contact with Kasselakis since his removal office following a central committee vote of no confidence.