Massive defection from SYRIZA’s central committee

Fifty-three members of SYRIZA's central committee, including Euro MP Nikos Chountis, resigned Wednesday slamming the leftist party's U-turn on its election promises.

A statement released Wednesday spoke of “developments that will go down in the history of the Left in bleak colors.”

The 53 attacked outgoing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for calling early elections without prior consultation with the party's central committee.

“As members of the central committee we cannot serve a new memorandum… which will deal the final blow to an already-devastated people,” they said.

The 53 are expected to join Popular Unity, the newly-formed SYRIZA splinter party led by former energy minister Panayiotis Lafazanis.