The war within the SYRIZA party is becoming more intensive, making it impossible to forecast the outcome of early elections that will probably take place on 20 September.
And while everyone in Greece is wondering where Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is and why he has not been seen since the announcement of early elections a week ago, the left newspaper Efimerida ton Sintakton (Newspaper of Editors) reports that the president of parliament is preparing to establish her own party.
According to the newspaper, Zoe Konstantopoulou is waiting for the official announcement of elections that will dismiss the current parliament in order to announce the establishment of her party in the coming days. The author of the publication points out that Konstantopoulou’s current behaviour indicates that her party will cooperate with Panagiotis Lafazanis’ newly formed Popular Unity. "This seems to be the most likely development of things since Zoe Konstantopoulou does not want to join Lafazanis’ party. Moreover, such a union could attract other organizations," reads the newspaper, which is friendly disposed to the president of parliament.
At the same time, sources say that the largest intra-party organization, the Group of 53, held a meeting to decide what position to take in the disintegration of SYRIZA. It was proposed during the debate that Minister of Finance Efklidis Tsakalotos and former government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis, who are members of the Group, should not be included in the party ballot. According to some sources, Tsakalotos himself was unwilling to participate in party lists.
The meeting ended shortly before midnight without a particular decision being taken. The central committee of SYRIZA will discuss again all issues at an extended session that will take place this coming weekend. Meanwhile, the majority of the current group members in Thessaloniki have taken a stand for immediately leaving SYRIZA and establishing a new political formation.
The Greek media comment that the Group of 53 probably will not take coordinated actions. The majority of its members support the idea of staying in SYRIZA but the final decisions are yet to be taken.
The problems of the radical left, however, go beyond the differences among deputies. The members of the regional party organizations are leaving SYRIZA on a mass scale, joining the newly formed Popular Unity party that is vehemently opposed to the implementation of the bailout terms.
"It is impossible to execute a policy that we oppose. It is unthinkable to serve the interests of oligarchy to the detriment of the survival of our nation. It is unthinkable to stand behind the selling of national property, which violates national sovereignty. It is inconceivable to support the implementation of the memoranda to the detriment of democracy," state most of their manifestos.
The change in the policy led by Alexis Tsipras has even caused a break in the otherwise "brotherly" Spanish Podemos party. According to a publication on the website of the Left Platform iskra.gr, which refers to an article in the Spanish daily El Pais, Podemos is divided into supporters of Alexis Tsipras on one side and of Panagiotis Lafazanis on the other.
According to the article in El Pais, "at the meeting of the summer university on Saturday, spokesman for the anti-capitalist left Raul Camargo, Podemos deputy in the local parliament in Madrid, called for support for the Popular Unity party that has disaffiliated from SYRIZA."
The Spanish anti-capitalist left took a stand against a possible future cooperation with the Socialist Party and for Podemos to change its programme to its original, more radical line.
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