In September 2023, Kaselakis was suddenly elected leader of Syriza. Since then, the party has been embroiled in toxic internal strife.
Kaselakis, a former Goldman Sachs trader, has been criticized for being out of touch with the left in his views on the economy, NATO and Israel. The legitimacy of his declaration of property was questioned. During a media tour of his luxury apartment in a wealthy neighborhood of Athens, employees of the party’s newspaper and radio station were taken without pay for months and were also heavily criticized.
Last November, dozens of party members left Syriza to form the New Left party. The party’s poor performance in June’s EU elections has fueled discord, with Kaselakis maintaining an aggressive stance against most of his party members, especially his predecessor Tsipras.
After sending a legal threat to the Syriza party last month, he was eventually banned from running as a candidate for the Syriza leadership.
Since Friday evening, four lawmakers have announced they will leave Syriza, and eight more could follow.
By Friday, Syriza had 35 lawmakers in the Greek parliament, while the socialist party Pasok had 31. This means that Pasok could be replaced by Greece’s main opposition party by Monday.
