SYRIZA turning against controversial lawmaker

SYRIZA MP and former minister Pavlos Polakis is facing sanctions by his own party over an explosive social media post that attacked judges, journalists and the head of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue in colorful and threatening terms.

Anonymous sources from the headquarters of Greece’s leftist, main opposition party hinted that Polakis may be struck from the lists of candidates for the upcoming national election.

The party’s top organ will meet Tuesday and the SYRIZA sources said that party leader Alexis Tsipras “has already made up his mind.”

“SYRIZA has a program…and operating principles based on democracy and collective action and call for defense of policies and not their undermining by its members, especially the leaders…whoever thinks they can devise their own policies, finalize candidate lists and impose their own preferred private agenda with continuous postings and ignoring the party’s princiles and policy has obviously, and consciously, decided to exclude themselves from the electoral contest,” the sources said.

The statement referred to a previous posting by Polakis crticizing the exclusion of one of his friends from the list of candidates in his own multi-member constituency of Chania, on the island of Crete. A stern response by the party and an ironic posting by Tsipras himself had forced Polakis to climb down on the issue.

But the irrepressible, and voluble, MP could not help reacting to the statement from party headquarters:

“We will talk about EVERYTHING in the Political Secretariat and the Central Committee. I will not start a conversation with ‘sources’…There are obvious proceduires and party organs, on which I have been elected, with a very high [percentage] of votes. We will speak there and see who’s right!” he said.

Both the ruling center-right New Democracy and the socialist PASOK have called on SYRIZA to kick out Polakis from the party for his post.