Today, barring any shocking last-minute developments, seven MPs from New Left and approximately one hundred party officials are leaving the party, disagreeing with their party’s direction. These officials will make their views known through a statement they will release publicly, explaining the reasons for their disagreement with the Patission-based party. According to sources, the seven MPs are Alexis Charitsis, Efi Achtsioglou, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Nasos Iliopoulos, Theano Fotiou, Meropi Tzoufi, and Hussein Zeybek.
Once these officials become independent, the New Left parliamentary group will cease to exist in parliament. For Efi Achtsioglou specifically, it is rumored that she intends to resign from parliament altogether, in order to subsequently see how she will move regarding Alexis Tsipras’s party. The same sources say this does not apply to Alexis Parlitsis, who may have resigned as president of New Left, but subsequently gave an interview saying he does not intend to resign as an MP, a fact that worked negatively on Amalias Street.
According to the same sources, the statement to be signed by those leaving the party will be mild and will only refer to the political reasons for which they made this decision. Specifically, it will state that the majority’s political plan is indefensible, as political developments are shaping a new reality. They will declare themselves present in the processes taking place in the political space for creating a pole against Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
However, the fact that there will be no specific reference to Tsipras’s party or the intentions some have to align with the new venture has annoyed Patission Street. This is because the party majority believes that the image given to public opinion about the officials’ departure is not the real one. Nevertheless, serious processes will also emerge for those who remain in the party, since there are two different perceptions about what should be done.
The Sakellaridis side believes that cooperation with MeRA25 would be appropriate. However, Yanis Varoufakis appears to desire cooperation only with Gabriel Sakellaridis and a group of untainted officials, while he seems unwilling to discuss the possibility of cooperation with former SYRIZA government ministers, especially with Euclid Tsakalotos. The New Left leader, however, does not appear to be discussing such a possibility, although some of his comrades insist this is the appropriate solution. At the same time, other New Left officials favor alignment with SYRIZA, with some even supporting that contacts between the sides already exist. Missing from this equation is naturally Pavlos Polakis, since officials like Nikos Filis and Nikos Voutsis say yes to cooperation with former comrades who remain in SYRIZA, except for the Chania MP.
Obviously, the coming period will show in which direction those remaining in New Left will move. What is certain, however, is that Gabriel Sakellaridis is determined to fight for his party to be represented in the next Parliament.
