A fierce battle between Alexis Tsipras and Nikos Androulakis is expected in the coming period over who will represent the center-left in the next elections.
Why PASOK enters Alexis Tsipras’s crosshairs
The entire endeavor is obviously more difficult for Mr. Tsipras, since during the memorandum years a large portion of voters in this political space identified with the anti-SYRIZA and anti-Tsipras front, triggered by the referendum on the country’s eurozone membership. And where the “game” seemed obviously easier for Nikos Androulakis, came the case of GSEE president and PASOK member Yannis Panagopoulos, whose accounts were frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, thus awakening old memories that cost PASOK dearly.
Sources say that Alexis Tsipras, in order to achieve his goal and approach center and center-left voters with whom he currently has no particular relationship, will proceed along two axes. First, in the coming period he will go on the counterattack to highlight the difficulty PASOK faces in becoming an alternative governing solution. The former prime minister will argue that Nikos Androulakis had a great opportunity throughout the previous period to stand out and win public impressions due to problems on the left, yet he failed to do so, as polling numbers remain exactly at the same point for months. In short, he will insist on what he said at “Pallas”: “the picture is unpleasant and discouraging. Because it’s a picture of fragmentation and self-interest that reproduces and multiplies social disappointment. And it helps the government maintain the swamp while the opposition fails to produce the oxygen that society needs and demands. Parties enclosed in their complacency and leaderships that give the impression they care little whether the current government wins a third term. As long as they keep their positions. And the same for those who challenge them.”
The “transfers” from Charilaou Trikoupi and opening to PASOK members
Simultaneously, he will open up to PASOK members who, for one reason or another, have distanced themselves from Charilaou Trikoupi to join his political organization, even giving them specific roles.
It’s characteristic that after Antonis Saoulidis, whom he had beside him in Thessaloniki, and Giorgos Siakantaris, with whom he appeared in Patras, today in Ioannina he will co-present his book “Ithaca” together with former PASOK health sector head Giorgos Boulmbsakos, who recently departed from the Charilaou Trikoupi party. Giorgos Boulmbsakos belonged to the Renovative Left group of Theodoros Margaritis, who remains in PASOK but also looks toward Amalias street.
In an article about the political situation and Tsipras’s initiative, Mr. Boulmbsakos argued that responsibility for a credible alternative governance proposal weighs on the entire progressive space, emphasizing the need for convergence of social democracy, radical left, and political ecology. He had pointed out that such an effort cannot remain in the sphere of declarations but must lead “to the end of the road” to a coherent governance plan, while simultaneously criticizing the government for policies that, as he noted, serve specific interests at the expense of the social majority.
Sources report that within the framework of expansion, Alexis Tsipras has contacted many former PASOK members, while discussions are taking place about the future with current Charilaou Trikoupi figures. For his part, Nikos Androulakis is preparing to integrate Nina Kasimati into his party, while it’s said he has also made proposals to Thanos Moraitis and Zoe Karkoulia, in order to show that he too is proceeding with expansion of his party by taking SYRIZA members or figures left unclaimed after first following Stefanos Kasselakis.
The plan to wedge the anti-SYRIZA front
The second move Alexis Tsipras will make involves an operation to wedge the anti-SYRIZA front. In this planning, writer Giorgos Siakantaris and communications expert Nikos Marantzidis appear to have primary roles.
The inclusion of Giorgos Siakantaris in the close team of collaborators obviously signals the former prime minister’s turn toward the center-left and the opening Mr. Tsipras wants to make to voters who in the past were sworn enemies. This is because Giorgos Siakantaris was one of the most vocal institutional critics of the former prime minister on the referendum issue.
Obviously, the former close collaborator of Nikos Androulakis knows very well the way and narrative with which the former prime minister must move to break the anti-Tsipras front. It’s characteristic that he now appears to say that today’s Alexis Tsipras has nothing in common with the past one, as the former prime minister has now matured.
Nikos Marantzidis has also been one of Alexis Tsipras’s harshest critics in the past, accusing him of populism. Their relationship changed in 2023, when the well-known communications expert took over the pre-election campaign, with known results. Today he is the person constantly beside the former prime minister, guiding him in everything. Some even credit him -along with Michalis Kalogiros- with the “Pallas” balcony appearance that brought great reactions within SYRIZA and among left-wing voters.
Published in Parapolitika
