Νine lawmakers of left-wing SYRIZA announced on Thursday morning that they break way from Greece’s main opposition party seeking to form their own parliamentary group. Early aftenoon, also MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis announced his departure from the party.
The fraction led by former Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou, known as “6 6,” is to seek collaboration with two MPs who recently left the party, that is ex finance minister Euklides Tsakalotos and Peggy Perka. According to legislation at least 10 lawmakers are needed to form a group in the Greek Parliament.
With these departures and depending on future developments, SYRIZA -now with 36 MPs -is at risk to lose its position as “main opposition party” towards socialist PASOK-KINAL (32).
The break away from the party was anticipated move that followed a meeting of the faction earlier this week, further weakening the main opposition party now under the leadership of newcomer Stefanos Kasselakis.
A total of 57 members of “6 6” fraction have left the party, among them lawmakers Efi Achtsioglou, Nasos Iliopoulos, Alexis Haritsis, Sia Anagnostopoulou, Hussein Zeybek, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Meropi Tzoufi, Ozgur Ferhat, and Theano Fotiou.
In a letter sent to the SYRIZA secretariat, the break away group said the party is experiencing a “dissolution crisis” and accused new leader Stefanos Kasselakis of “anti-democratic practices.”
“The new president of the party and his leadership group refuse to recognize and discuss the political core of the problem. Instead, they choose the interpretive scheme of the ‘enemy within’ and the ‘fifth column’. When they do not choose to launch attacks and insults, they resort to a simplistic, empty speech with generic slogans,” the fraction said.
The group accused Kasselakis of “acting undemocratically,” saying he was elected democratically but he does not act accordingly. His message is “a jumble of contradictory opinions without any depth,” the fraction stressed.
the fraction departure follows the mass resignation on Wednesday of 90 members of the Human Rights Sector of SYRIZA and the majority of its secretariat.
In a runoff vote in September, Achtsioglou lost to Kasselakis in the bid to succeed Alexis Tsipras as the leader of SYRIZA.
sources: several