Stefanos Kasselakis

SYRIZA’s top officials are set to face the new reality following Stefanos Kasselakis’s removal from the leadership of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, as the Political Secretariat meets today at 4 p.m. Tensions remain high within the party.

The historic - by parliamentary standards - dismissal of Stefanos Kasselakis as leader of SYRIZA has landed the leftist opposition party in uncharted waters. 

SYRIZA is headless for the second consecutive year, its presence at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) will be feeble, while it is not charging into the budget battle that will soon begin firing on all cylinders.

For now, Stefanos Kasselakis is keeping quiet, a day after being ousted from SYRIZA’s leadership by a decision from the party’s Central Committee. His office in Koumoundourou has been locked, and he hasn’t met with even his closest associates.

Developments within the main opposition SYRIZA party will be in the spotlight this week after its leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, lost a no-confidence vote over the weekend.

The tensions within the party's central committee were intense, further deepening the turmoil that has plagued SYRIZA since its resounding electoral defeat last year.

Nick Malkoutzis, the co-founder of Macropolis.gr, joins Thanos Davelis with the key takeaways from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' keynote address at the Thessaloniki International Fair, and break down the latest turmoil in SYRIZA that saw its leader Stefanos Kasselakis lose a no-confidence vote.

Although Kasselakis was removed, it is difficult to foresee a revival of SYRIZA in the near future. The crisis will deepen, and we will see many more episodes. There might be agreements on positions, political alliances, organizational structures, priorities, and programs.

Apostolos Gletsos, former mayor of Stylida in central Greece and once a hugely popular soap opera actor, has announced his intention to run for the leadership of the leftist SYRIZA opposition party.

What is happening in the political opposition at the moment is very bad. It is bad for everyone. SYRIZA turns out to have been an opportunistic formation based on the charisma of former leader (and premier) Alexis Tsipras and was the product of great and justified public anger. 

SYRIZA's central committee approved a motion of no confidence in its leader Stefanos Kasselakis Sunday, deepening the turmoil that has plagued the main opposition party since a resounding electoral defeat last year.

The dismissal of Stefanos Kasselakis from the position of SYRIZA president by an enhanced majority of the Central Committee (163 yes and 123 no and null/blank votes) leads the main opposition party into new internal elections within a year. At the same time, it brings Alexis Tsipras back to the forefront, who played a role in both the election of Kasselakis and his removal a year later.