With Tsipras gone, SYRIZA may struggle to keep unity

A high-ranking SYRIZA official told Kathimerini last Sunday, when the party suffered its second successive crushing defeat, that the party’s supporters until then had voted for Alexis Tsipras and that, starting from the expected party congress, they should learn to vote for SYRIZA.

This is even more true now that the party’s long-time charismatic leader has decided to step down, a month before his 49th birthday. It was largely thanks to him that SYRIZA went from under 5% of the vote in 2009 to over 35% in the two elections in 2015.

Now, with less than 18%, it is obvious that Tsipras’ star was fading. But, with him gone, will the party hold together? Or will left-wing factionalism resurface?

An early indication will be the treatment of former socialist politicians who defected to SYRIZA with Tsipras’ blessing and whom many in the party see as opportunists who dilute SYRIZA’s radicalism.