Behind-the-scenes rather than through official bodies, the most serious processes regarding the political future of SYRIZA are taking place, as party officials individually seek their path to the Maximos Mansion.
The party’s Central Committee, which convened on Saturday, simply confirmed that the overwhelming majority supports cooperation with Alexis Tsipras, while simultaneously highlighting in the clearest way the group of the Chania MP, which even conveyed that it is ready to fight for SYRIZA’s independent participation in the elections.
However, the text by Pavlos Polakis, which called for a strict two-month timeline for other parties to respond whether they desire pre-election cooperation with SYRIZA, was voted down. Within this was the strict warning from the Chania MP that the scenarios being developed by some and written in the press about SYRIZA’s self-dissolution will not pass, insisting that the Koumoundourou party should participate even alone in the elections.
“What is being written is science fiction,” SYRIZA president Sokratis Famellos characteristically stated, in order to appease the 35 Central Committee members who had signed the relevant text with Polakis’s views. Referring to the questions posed by the Chania MP about cooperations and the possibility of early elections, he responded that “cooperations are a social demand” and that SYRIZA “is ready for early elections.”
It should be noted, however, that while most believe that under no circumstances should SYRIZA compete in the next elections against Alexis Tsipras, some hold the opposite view. As they say, if Pavlos Polakis ran against Alexis Tsipras in the first ballot, because he wouldn’t manage to enter Parliament, in the second round things would take their course.
Nevertheless, another important element from the entire intra-party Central Committee process is that the Polakis-Pappas axis no longer exists, as the latter appeared to have distanced himself from the Chania MP’s positions. He even submitted his own proposal, stating that there should be neither isolation nor self-dissolution, but instead “acceleration with explicit outreach for cooperation to other parties and certainly to Alexis Tsipras.”
However, the truth is that many of SYRIZA’s parliamentary group members are seeking contact with Alexis Tsipras to determine their moves in the coming period. The former prime minister avoids committing to include them in his party, although many imply they could even resign as MPs or become independents in order to be candidates with Tsipras’s party in the next elections.
This is because many believe the prime minister could surprise with early elections, leaving many officials outside the political game.
