While some may still wonder today whether Alexis Tsipras will proceed with creating a new political formation, information suggests that the former prime minister’s associates on Amalias Street are already in informal discussions with some officials from SYRIZA and PASOK.
These discussions are understandably not conducted by Alexis Tsipras himself, but by officials who have taken on organizing the party and approaching new figures.
However, the former prime minister does not currently want any officials to become independent, as he doesn’t want to appear to be trying to weaken parties he might potentially cooperate with at some point. At the same time, it appears that those on Amalias Street have decided to give voice and publicity to figures who are new to politics and will compete for citizens’ votes in the next elections.
Alexis Tsipras: Plans for the new political formation
The timing of when Alexis Tsipras will proceed with creating the new political formation remains uncertain, as he wishes to postpone it until later, close to summer. However, even this plan is up in the air, since no one knows when the prime minister will ultimately call elections. If elections are held in 2027, then Alexis Tsipras will proceed with his planning sometime in the fall. If the government appears to be rushing things, with the logic that ballot boxes could be set up in the fall around the Thessaloniki International Fair, Alexis Tsipras’s scheduling will also change.
For now, however, those on Amalias Street appear to be watching Maria Karystianou, who with her statements and actions seems to be alienating a large portion of the left-wing audience. Indeed, officials around the former prime minister believe that with the positions and views expressed by the former president of the Association of Relatives of Tempi Victims, New Democracy and the more right-wing parties should be more concerned than Alexis Tsipras.
The former prime minister, however, is not expected to make Maria Karystianou his main political opponent. He will only respond when under attack. After all, from Thessaloniki he had responded to her view that under Tsipras the country had the worst memorandum, saying: “We brought, she says, the worst memorandum. We brought the worst memorandum… The country went bankrupt in 2015 because the banks closed… The country hadn’t gone bankrupt in 2009… The goldfish memory, as if addressing a society of Lotus-eaters… To remember Ithaca as well.” In reality, Alexis Tsipras wanted to highlight Maria Karystianou’s ignorance on matters concerning the country, particularly the economy.
