Alexis Tsipras presented himself yesterday as the ultimate guarantor of cooperation among the country’s progressive forces, should he be given a mandate to form a government. “I am not here to divide, but to unite the progressive camp,” said the ELAS party leader during a discussion with journalist Niki Liberaki at the “Dialogues for Athens: From Myth to the Modern City” conference organized by Vima newspaper.
Alexis Tsipras: A coalition government with progressive forces — the center-left plan
Tsipras was notably specific in his remarks, stating: “The government I will seek to form, if the Greek people honor me once again with their vote, will be a progressive government — radical, with a realistic, alternative political agenda — in contrast to what the Mitsotakis government is implementing today: a right-wing, neoliberal agenda that repeatedly borders on disregarding the needs of the vast majority, the social majority. With whom? With all democratic and progressive forces that share this need and are willing to enter into a process of dialogue, based on our program. In short, I am not here to divide the progressive camp — I am here to unite it. To unite the center-left. And no matter how many blows I take, even below the belt, I will play the Buddhist monk…” he said characteristically. This statement followed remarks he had made just hours earlier, in which he noted that the emergence of ELAS had unsettled all political parties — and particularly New Democracy, which now has a genuine rival.
SYRIZA’s ultimatum to 12 independent MPs
At the same time, SYRIZA headquarters appears to be issuing a thinly veiled threat to the 12 independent MPs who left the party when ELAS entered the political scene. According to reports, if these MPs have not surrendered their parliamentary seats by next Wednesday, SYRIZA intends to go public against them — specifically by releasing video footage of statements the MPs made at other points in time, when other lawmakers were leaving the party for different political directions. The ultimatum is directed at Olga Gerovasili, Kalliopi Vetta, Giorgos Gavrilos, Miltos Zambaras, Dionysis Kalamatinos, Marina Kontotoli, Haris Mamoulakis, Alexandros Meikopulos, Andreas Panagiotopulos, Popi Tsapanidou, and Giorgos Psychogios. Sources from SYRIZA headquarters went further, warning that any party that accepts these MPs without them first having resigned their seats would be denounced by SYRIZA as complicit in political theft. This warning is clearly aimed at ELAS — though it seems SYRIZA is overlooking the fact that Alexis Tsipras has already set the surrender of parliamentary seats as a precondition for joining his party.
Why Apostolakis, Kasimati, and Tzakri are excluded from the ultimatum
Meanwhile, questions are being raised as to why the ultimatum is directed only at the 12 MPs and not at the independent lawmakers who appear to be gravitating toward PASOK — namely Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, Nina Kasimati, and Theodora Tzakri.
