As of today, SYRIZA is a party that will exist only until the elections, having decided not to run in the polls, with some of its officials and current MPs standing as candidates with Alexis Tsipras’s ELAS following personal agreements with him.
Yesterday, the Central Committee’s majority decision approved Socrates Famellos’s proposal that SYRIZA should not run in the elections “in opposition to Mr. Tsipras” but “alongside him,” because the opposite—that is, his participation in the elections—would be a “strategic mistake.” Nevertheless, the decision makes no mention of the party’s “self-dissolution,” nor does it explain how a party that has no MPs in Parliament… by its own choice… will continue to exist.
As we noted yesterday, reports that Famellos’s majority did not want to “go to extremes” regarding SYRIZA’s fate have been confirmed; however, it is becoming clear that the much-discussed self-dissolution will occur “by osmosis” over the coming months, with the final curtain falling when elections are called.
As was also expected, the amendment submitted by six members of the body—Pavlos Polakis, Rena Dourou, Nikos Pappas, Tryfon Alexiadis, Giorgos Panagiotopoulos, and Fotini Karistinaki—was voted down.
The central idea of the amendment was to seek electoral alliances with parties and forces in the political arena, primarily with ELAS, but also with figures such as Nikos Kotzias, Louka Katseli, and others; however, whether these efforts are partially successful or not at all, SYRIZA should run in the elections and begin the necessary preparations immediately.
The leadership side voted in favor of Famellos’s proposal by 70% and against the amendment in question by 30%, while the “six” speak of a 60-40 split and refer to a “Pyrrhic victory” for the leadership.
The other, more moderate amendment submitted by eight members of the Central Committee (Gannis Boulekos, Christos Lambrinidis, Kostas Georgiadis, Eleni Evangelopoulou, Vasiliki Lazou, Dimitris Petras, Thrasos Stavridopoulos, Fotis Tzanetos), in which they disagreed with Famellos’s position that “SYRIZA supports Tsipras’s party” and called for consultation with neighboring political forces (including ELAS) regarding cooperation.
According to these officials, their own amendment received 45% of the votes, meaning it “came within a hair’s breadth of being approved,” as was stated.
The “dogs” and “the law of nature”
The session had several tense moments, as the minority side appeared politically forceful with emotional appeals.
Mr. Polakis spoke of a global first: one party deciding to support another in an election. “You’re throwing us to the dogs, and we won’t stand for it,” Ms. Dourou emphasized (to the leadership); Mr. Pappas insisted on coordinated cooperation, while Panos Rigas reserved a harsh rebuke for Mr. Famellos: “You have discredited yourself; strictly speaking, as of Monday you should no longer be president,” he reportedly said.
Equally forceful was the presence of majority leaders, who prioritized realism over emotion in light of the new political realities created by Mr. Tsipras’s founding of the new party.
“ELAS is uniting the Left; there must be no separate ballots in the elections,” said Rania Svigkou. “Alexis Tsipras’s initiative expresses the hope of the broader progressive forces,” added Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou. Meanwhile, Symeon Kedikoglou referred to nature: “The stream (SYRIZA) follows the riverbed (ELAS) and partially merges with it, not the other way around. That is the law of nature.”
The “day after” was explosive
Mr. Polakis also spoke of certain “agreements” in the period following Mr. Tsipras’s resignation from the presidency of SYRIZA, hinting that he intends to make “revelations”: after reiterating that he took responsibility for the initial support he had given to Stefanos Kasselakis when he ran for the party presidency, he claimed that between the first and second rounds of the presidential election at the time “Mr. Tsipras asked Pappas to support Kaselakis.”
On this point, however, there was no further mention, not even from Mr. Pappas, who was present.
What will tomorrow bring, and… how many bombshells will it unleash? After the meeting concluded, Mr. Polakis called on officials and MPs who have said they would go to Mr. Tsipras’s ELAS to “go ahead and do it,” while regarding SYRIZA’s future, he insisted: “We’re moving forward.”
How this will happen remains to be seen, as the once-ruling party is heading toward being wiped off the political map—barring a dramatic turn of events that, for the time being, is not in sight.