Last-minute candidate joins SYRIZA’s leadership race

Stefanos Kasselakis, a Greek ship investor, declared his intention to run for the leadership of the main opposition on Tuesday, becoming the fifth candidate to enter the race.

The 35-year-old submitted his candidacy in a letter to the Prefectural Committee of Hania on Monday.

Kasselakis, who has lived and worked in the United States, was a candidate for SYRIZA in the party’s state-wide list in the general elections of 2023. According to his CV, he also worked as a volunteer on the staff of then-Senator Joe Biden in the 2008 Presidential Election.

The fresh-faced candidate is positioning himself as a self-made man who supports social equality, the separation of church and state and the abolition of compulsory army service.

“I am aware that I have no political party experience. My experience is in work and social life.The candidacy I am now putting forward shows another path: From society [and] for society. Several generations have been lost. The time has come to build the Greek Dream that we so desperately need,” he said in a post on social media.

According to his office, he will begin his campaigning in Hania, his city of origin in western Crete. On Tuesday evening, Kasselakis will meet and chat with SYRIZA members and friends at the park of the Venizelos Tombs and later on he will speak live on a television newscast.

He will be the fifth person to submit a candidacy for the leadership of the main opposition, joining Effie Achtsioglou, Euclid Tsakalotos, Nikos Pappas, and Stefanos Tzoumakas in the party race. The leadership change comes after Alexis Tsipras stepped down, following the crushing defeat in two elections in May and June. 

SYRIZA members will elect their new leader on September 10 and, if necessary, on a second round on September 16, among the declared candidates.