Greece’s opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras, announced his decision to resign as leader of the left-wing Syriza party on Thursday, 29 June 2023, days after a crushing general election defeat.
In a televised speech, Tsipras said, “I have therefore decided to propose the election of a new leadership by the members of the party … Of course I will not be a candidate.”
“I make no secret of the fact that this is a painful decision … I don’t take hasty decisions. I put them under my pillow and torture myself with them first.”
Alexis Tsipras
In the general election which took place on Sunday, June 25, 2023, Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party received just under 18% of the vote; losing almost half its support over the past four years, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ winning New Democracy party topped 40%.
“The party must take difficult and courageous decisions, which are called upon to serve a new vision. This obviously concerns me too,” Tsipras said.
Tsipras, 48, served as Greece’s Prime Minister from 2015 to 2019.
Since taking over as leader of Syriza in 2012, Tsipras has worked to strengthen the party’s unity. He led Syriza from a small political group to victory in the general election in 2015 by promising to resist the strict austerity demands made by lenders for bailout funds, including other euro zone members and the International Monetary Fund.
The attempt was unsuccessful, and later that year Greece received a third bailout to save it from going bankrupt and leaving the common euro currency. He softened his aggressive approach toward the European Commission and finally developed close ties with European leaders, particularly former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He received a lot of acclaim from Western allies for finalizing an agreement with North Macedonia that ushered Greece’s neighbor into NATO and advanced its effort to join the European Union.
A Decision To Be Expected
Greece’s conservative Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was Tsipras’ main opponent in the election, averred that he hoped the opposition leader’s departure would improve the quality of political debate.
“I think decision was to be expected,” Mitsotakis said while attending a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
“Syriza, both in government and in opposition, was a party characterized by toxicity, divisive rhetoric and with striking inefficiency.
“Political parties must unite citizens and propose realistic, cost-effective and workable solutions to people’s problems — a road Syriza has never taken. I sincerely hope it does now.”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s conservative Prime Minister
Nonetheless, Tsipras is expected to stay on as leader for several weeks until his successor is elected by the party’s rank-and-file membership.
Though Euclid Tsakalotos, a former Syriza Finance Minister, had urged him to reflect on the results and “take the necessary actions,” No prominent member of the party has publicly called on Tsipras to step down after the election defeat.
Former social security minister Effie Achtsioglou, 38, has gained backing from some party members to run for the leadership position, but she has not made her intentions publicly known.
Commentators attributed Syriza’s disappointing electoral performance to the party’s primarily negative campaign, the comeback of the traditionally-strong Socialist party Pasok, and the emergence of splinter parties led by Tsipras’s erstwhile allies, including former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Despite backing from certain top members of both parties, Syriza and the Socialists have been unable to come to any kind of agreement on prospective partnership. This is mostly because of the bitter political disputes that occurred throughout the international bailouts from 2010 to 2018.
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