The ownership of the “ceasefire” proposal belongs primarily to the Member of Parliament, Othon Iliopoulos, as he publicly presented it during his speech. However, it is based on the collaboration of Nikos Pappas, Sokratis Famellos, and George Tsipras, with Pavlos Polakis playing a secondary role. They timely perceived the intentions of the party’s base, turning the sentiment of self-preservation for themselves and the party into a current amid the prospect of a new split. In this perspective, the overwhelming majority of the assembly aligned with the proposal, as articulated by Sokratis Famellos, to initiate the vote by raising their hands. With most hands raised in the arena, Stefanos Kasselakis, the President of SYRIZA PA, took the stage to close the ballots, followed by various interpretations and readings of the…procedure.
As for the conference in total, associates of Stefanos Kasselakis expressed complete satisfaction, believing that “an entire congress, with such an overwhelming percentage, confirmed trust in the President’s leadership, without elections.” They highlighted the “unique stage presence” of the President of SYRIZA, praising the almost-candidate, Olga Gerovasili, for having “used” herself to defend Alexis Tsipras, describing the former party leader, however, as “deeply defeated.”
Regarding the conference’s merits, the establishment of a Political Center after the delegates’ decision will not signal a flood of changes within the party. According to a wing of executives referring to Mr. Kasselakis, this party body already exists, as it is provided for in the Statute, and only Effie Achtsioglou, who participated in it, will be replaced. Moreover, “the proposal was never voted on,” adding that the joint proposal of Sokratis Famellos, Nikos Pappas, and George Tsipras “was not majority” in the arena. In any case, for the leadership team, Stefanos Kasselakis “had the last word” at this conference, presenting a “package proposal” for the election date and receiving applause.
Simultaneously, however, the new President of SYRIZA did not manage to achieve the three major goals that he had publicly set during the previous period. And this is because he sought a “blank check” with a horizon of three years and did not receive it, while he attended the conference to receive a vote of confidence for the upcoming electoral contests, with the European elections being the first, which are now a milestone for him and his intra-party opponents. And of course, the election of new guiding bodies was not approved at the end of the day, prolonging the life and function of the current Central Committee, as well as the current Political Secretariat. In addition, Mr. Kasselakis received applause from the crowd many times during the three days, but did not unequivocally condemn the booing of Mrs. Gerovasili through a microphone, even though he himself is a champion of individual rights.
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Undoubtedly, the new “troika” of SYRIZA Central Committee emerged victorious in the poker game of the 4th conference, as Socrates Famellos, Alexis Tsipras, and Nikos Pappas worked mildly and conciliatorily at the end of the day, attracting the majority of the delegates to their proposal during the vote. Their clear victory, however, also marks the beginning of broader developments, as it has already been anticipated that the core of executives who led this specific proposal will intensify their appearances in the near future, as a new trend within SYRIZA.
The new intra-party role has been secured by Olga Gerovasili, Vice President of the Parliament, as she was the only one who accepted the challenge of the intra-party elections, persisting to the end on the path opened by the party’s President for the election of new leadership. From what was revealed, Mrs. Gerovasili knows how to maneuver, as she engaged in a fiery exchange with Mr. Kasselakis, entering into adverse terms in the…almost race. “I never withdrew my candidacy,” she clarified after relevant accusations, while meaningfully emphasizing that “the President’s proposal should have been voted on first.” In any case, “the congress is a sovereign body, it made a decision, and it is absolutely respected by me,” Mrs. Gerovasili stated, highlighting with meaning that “the presidency chose and placed Mr. Famellos’s proposal first.”
Tsipras – Kasselakis: Two strangers
As for the former Prime Minister and President of SYRIZA, as reported yesterday by sources close to him, “he has said what he had to say in his statement. There is no further comment,” concluding that “everyone will be judged by the results.”
In the end, Alexis Tsipras was absent from the proceedings of the 4th Conference of SYRIZA, but his written intervention that preceded the start, giving a tone to what the former Prime Minister perceives and deciphers, caused a seismic shock. For this reason, his intervention does not seem to have a duration of just a few days, but rather leads beyond the Congress, to the detachment of Alexis Tsipras from Stefanos Kasselakis, so that the latter can take responsibility. It’s like he’s conveying the message, in other words, about any wrong directions in the performance of today’s SYRIZA.
At the same time, what emerges is that there is a rupture even in relation to Nikos Pappas and Pavlos Polakis, as it became clear that they have ceased to have reference to Alexis Tsipras, without this necessarily being a negative development for him. Mainly due to their personal responsibilities for the course of SYRIZA, culminating in 18% in the last elections, having charted their own path for some time now.
Although Tsipras’s written intervention came at the end of the long first conference day, a move of high risk, however, the former President of SYRIZA himself will continue, it seems, to make this criticism steadily, but always with the truth as a guide. Given that the image conveyed by their natural leader in recent days does not suggest his distancing from party and political activities, but rather the opposite, with the aim of issuing timely warnings about the outcome of the situation, before it is too late.
