Ex-deputy PM leaves SYRIZA, criticizes Kasselakis

Yannis Dragasakis, a former deputy prime minister, economy minister, and founding member of SYRIZA, announced on Thursday that he is leaving the main opposition party. 

The 76-year-old, who resigned from the leftist party’s central committee in December, issued a statement criticizing SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis for distorting the party’s ideological character. 

“Kasselakis inherited a left-wing party with problems and he is now creating many more problems without a left-wing party, as SYRIZA has entered a process of de-leftification,” he said. 

“SYRIZA, under the current leadership, cannot resolve the issues around its identity, strategy and democratic operation that have plagued the party even prior [to Kasselakis]. It will, for this reason, be caught up in a prolonged crisis,” he said.

Sources close to Dragasakis, who also advocated for the formation of a new popular left-wing party, indicated that he does not intend to join any rival faction. His decision to resign on Thursday came as a surprise to SYRIZA and to the leadership of New Left, a splinter group within SYRIZA with which Dragasakis has been in contact.

SYRIZA responded with a rather nebulous statement, concluding that “this time Dragasakis did not raise the issue of leadership as he had indicated months ago.”