Kasselakis insists he remains SYRIZA president, fires shots at Tsipras
In a late night interview on Thursday, former SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis maintained an aggressive stance against the majority of the leftwing opposition party’s central committee, while issuing a direct challenge to his predecessor, ex-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
Speaking on Antenna TV, Kasselakis contested all decisions made by the central committee, including his ousting in a no-confidence vote last month, asserting that the upcoming party congress “will decide whether I am the president of SYRIZA or not.”
Kasselakis, who rose to the leadership of the left-wing opposition just over a year ago, again argued that, according to the party’s statutes, a no-confidence vote does not automatically remove him from leadership. Instead, he claimed he remains in charge until an extraordinary congress is held.
“Let’s assume I am a former president. Then, who is president today? I remain both de facto and de jure president… It’s inconceivable for a party to lack both managerial and administrative leadership,” he said.
Kasselakis also called out Tsipras, who is considered to be aligned with the so-called Group of 87, a faction within the party.
“He must stay active, through his institute,” he said, referring to the Alexis Tsipras Institute, founded by the former premier earlier this year. “If he wishes to return to the forefront of politics however, the most honest thing would be for him to run against me as a candidate for SYRIZA president,” Kasselakis said.
He further said that he would not attend Saturday’s extraordinary central committee meeting, which is expected to address calls for his exclusion from SYRIZA leadership bid. This follows his sending a legal notice to party leadership, demanding an investigation into the leak of parts of his wealth declaration to the press.
Earlier on Thursday, reports surfaced claiming that emails and text messages from supporters of Kasselakis had been sent to party members, urging them to gather outside the hotel where the central committee meeting was set to take place, block the entrance, and prevent the event from proceeding. Kasselakis denied that any such instructions had been issued by him or his team.
