SYRIZA’s Kasselakis, Achtsioglou urge voters to return for runoff next Sunday
Stefanos Kasselakis and Effie Achtsioglou are headed to a runoff next weekend for the leadership of the left-wing, main opposition SYRIZA party.
With 99% of the votes counted, Stefanos Kasselakis leads with 45%, followed by Achtsioglou (36.2%), Nikos Pappas (8.8%), Euclid Tsakalotos (8.7%) and Stefanos Tzoumakas (1.29%).
Next Sunday (September 24) the members of the party will head to the polls to vote between the first two candidates, Kasselakis and Achtsioglou.
“The first step has been taken so that the country will have a progressive government soon. The country needs it,” Kasselakis told the press outside SYRIZA’s headquarters after winning the first round of the elections.
“We will all have to return to the polls on Sunday, win and be able to take on the government that currently does not adequately represent the history of the people,” he added.
Before his victory statement, Kasselakis expressed his condolences for the members of the Greek rescue team who died in a road accident in Libya, saying that “they are heroes of our society.”
On her side, Achtsioglou thanked voters for participating in droves and said next Sunday’s polls “will be decisive.”
“It will determine whether the fight before us will be given in political terms or not. The fight on the real field, in the Parliament and in society…SYRIZA cannot march in the murky waters of easy solutions. We have a responsibility towards the Greek people to be honest.”
Nikos Pappas said “our party comes out stronger” from the election. “It is a proof that we need to proceed quickly in the transformation of our party into a left-wing, progressive, democratic party.”
“I fought a battle with many comrades for the ideas, for the history and for the perspective of the Left,” said Euclid Tsakalotos. “That is the only way to have a substantial opposition to the destructive government of New Democracy.”
“However, I am forced to say that metapolitics, that is, the emphasis on the person and the image, has penetrated even in places where one does not expect it,” he added.
