“New kid on the block” for leadership causes war within opposition

Dear reader,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

Fairly unknown even to SYRIZA members, Greek-American businessman Stefanos Kasselakis finishes first in the first ballot for the new SYRIZA leader with 45% of the vote. Kasselakis had announced his candidacy only some 20 days before.

His victory triggered a ‘civil war’ within SYRIZA, exposing a deep identity problem for the formerly leftist party. Some praise Kasselakis for reviving the interest in the leadership race; others see him as serving the interests of a specific fraction within the party and possibly as the person who came to dissolve SYRIZA and give rise to the ‘Greek dems.’

While SYRIZA ‘comrades’ were fighting each other, and the whole country was consuming the ‘Kasselakis serial,’ the ND government passed yet another regressive bill swiping labor rights and practically abolishing the right to strike.  

How to become a party leader by using social media (not)

Something unprecedented in the Greek and possibly the international political scene has happened: A 35-year-old Greek-American living in the USA without any previous political experience or track record is set to become the leader of the country’s main opposition, center-left SYRIZA party. Stefanos Kasselakis came first among five candidates in the Sunday ballot, receiving some 45% of the vote. He will compete in the second round with Efi Achtsioglou, a 38-year-old lawyer who has been active on the left since her teenage years and served as Minister of Labour in Tsipras’ cabinet. Achtsioglou received 36% of the vote. Some 149,000 citizens voted.

Kasselakis, an openly gay former ship investor and Goldman Sachs trader, reasonably unknown in Greece even to SYRIZA voters, announced just on 29 August on social media his candidacy for SYRIZA leadership. 

How can this be happening? We are still struggling to explain it.