SYRIZA leader reaches out to diaspora on US holiday

Leftist opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis put the diaspora at the center of his new year’s message on Sunday, while on a holiday visit to the United States.

“SYRIZA may not be historically rooted in the Greek diaspora, but its president was raised and nurtured within it, and now I am trying to combine both of these identities: that of the Greek who lives in Greece and the one of the diaspora Greek,” Kasselakis said in comments to the National Herald newspaper.

“SYRIZA has always stood in favor of creating parliamentary seats for the Greek diaspora with direct right of election and not through the state ballot. This is what I also asked [Prime Minister] Kyriakos Mitsotakis at our meeting: that there be seats in Parliament for any diaspora Greek who wants to represent their community in Greece itself. Unfortunately, New Democracy is not in line with this proposal. This is an injustice for Greeks abroad, which we will continue to highlight,” he said. 

The recently elected leader of Greece’s main opposition went on to pledge that he will “work hard so that communication and unity are maintained between the Greek diaspora and Greece.”