The Papanota case and even more Kasselakis statements regarding the cross made of oil in the swimming pool during his baptism exposed SYRIZA and its president. And to their audience and the watching public.
Mainly, however, they remove the last shreds of seriousness from the official opposition party, in the final stretch towards the battle of the European elections.
Stefanos Kasselakis was forced to expel Dimitris Papanotas from the SYRIZA European ballot, following Efi Ahtsioglou’s complaints regarding his previous statements once morest women, but mainly following the reactions of SYRIZA women (Sofia Bekatorou, Dora Tsambazi, etc.) who demanded his removal, which the party president himself did not want and tried to prevent.
Neither… they understood
The preceding background confirms that Stefanos Kasselakis and the executives of his team had not realized either the problem or its extent, following the publication of the statements of Papanotas, who – as brought back to the news by E. Ahtsioglou – had said that in In Greece the woman has no problem, “unless she gets some satrap who abuses her and she herself sits and tolerates it, in which case it is her problem”.
Proof that they had not realized the dimensions of the issue was that following Ms. Ahtsioglou’s statements, Koumoundourou let it leak that there is no question of ousting Papanotas, while – according to information – the press representative of SYRIZA, Voula Kehagia herself, told phones that there is no issue Papanota. Dimitris Papanotas himself stated that when the issue “broke out”, he was assured by Mr. Kasselakis’ staff that they were on his side.
Things changed for the Kasselakis staff when they were informed that both Papanota’s statements and the… oil cross would come up as key issues in the Executive Office, meaning that new uproar was expected.
Pressures
“I hope the party will stand as it should. To make the right move. I am already in contact with the party and I am waiting for them to position themselves on the matter” said the also MEP candidate, Sofia Bekatorou, in her interview on Parapolitika FM, arguing that “we cannot say that we are bringing people with new ideas and the people who are coming not just to have outdated, but also to be their personal opinions. Let them read a little more, let them be informed, on the other hand they cannot express all of us”.
When asked if she is asking for his expulsion from the European ballot, the candidate replied: “I can’t decide that myself. However, in a group there must be people who can stand with knowledge, but also with the feeling for the common good. And in any case, let’s not ostrich.” However, the information insists that she had already sent her message regarding Mr. Papanotas “either me or him”, putting Stefanos Kasselakis and his associates in a difficult position.
Dora Tsambazi, also a candidate on the SYRIZA ballot, expressed “very great dissatisfaction”, who, speaking to Kontra, said that the bodies, specifically the Ethics Committee, should take up the issue.
And according to Mrs. Tsambazi, there was no interference in the words of Dimitris Papanotas, referring to what he said regarding “cutting and tailoring”, in a statement he issued following the screening of his controversial statements.
Corrective action
So Koumoundourou’s attempt to ask Mr. Papanotas to make a corrective move, in case the matter might be saved, talking regarding “cutting edge” was canceled by Mrs. Tsambazi herself.
Thus, the matter was not saved and in view of the Executive Office, in order not to impose the dismissal of Papanotas, Mr. Kasselakis was forced to remove him himself:
“It is with regret that I am forced to exclude Dimitris Papanotas from the European ballot. I know that he issued a corrective statement, but the matter he referred to is highly sensitive and cannot be discussed. Especially for the party that has human rights and equality at the forefront,” he noted, among other things, in his post.
Mr. Papanotas reacted by causing new problems for Stefanos Kasselakis and SYRIZA: “I see various attacks, I am sure that the SYRIZA candidates will be targeted much more and the thing continues, but we are here to face them all. Another thing is the games between TV shows in order to have issues and sell, and another thing when a person articulates a political speech, criticism should be made there, and not cut and sew, these are political indecencies”, said, among other things, Dimitris Papanotas in one of his many television appearances, before the finalization of his expulsion. “Some willful people cut it. What is happening is not ethical,” he said, and spoke of a blow to SYRIZA and its procedures. “It will not pass them,” he argued.
After his dismissal, however, he “threw it” to both Stefanos Kasselakis and SYRIZA. “It is a great victory for Ad. Georgiadis, New Democracy, New Left and PASOK at the expense of SYRIZA. I commend them for the shallow way of thinking they have dealt with the issue and I am truly sorry,” he initially said, speaking to Alpha. “I’m happy on the other hand, because when you enter a track, to compete, and the conditions are not the right ones, it’s good to learn it very early. I had spoken since yesterday with high-ranking members of the party and told them: “If you don’t have the guts to face the attacks I will receive, then I will resign.” They told me: “No, my Dimitris! We are on your side.” And he concluded: “I wish him and Stefanos Kasselakis a good future. I want to remind him that I was the first to support him from the first video he uploaded. This doesn ‘t matter. I was fired because of Bekatorou. I don’t think it’s ethical behavior between fellow candidates. They manage to change the agenda when people are hungry and cannot go to the supermarket. Bekatorou transfers the agenda to the misunderstanding of a statement”.
However, Dimitris Papanotas was replaced on the SYRIZA European ballot by the PhD in Biology and son of a former SYRIZA member of parliament and a former minister and member of the N.D. Katerina Papakosta.
Shocks within SYRIZA were also caused by Stefanos Kasselakis’ reports of a “miracle”, when he claimed that a cross was formed from… oil in the pool during his baptism.
“The Left has never had miracles in its political discourse. All democratic parties did not. These belong to some special political spaces”, commented George Tsipras yesterday speaking to SKAI. “No rational person talks regarding such things,” he continued, while answering the question why Mr. Kasselakis said such a thing, he replied: “I don’t know why he said it, he must be asked himself. Not a good item. This reference to miracles was shocking, it was shocking to me.” He also claimed that the mutation of SYRIZA that Mr. Kasselakis is trying to “do not want the people” and concluded: “The election of Kasselakis was done to change the wrongs, not to mutate, not to change our souls. From the swimming pool and the cross, we arrived at patris, religion, family in twenty-four hours.” In the same line and P. Polakis, who in an interview sent a message to Koumoundourou that “our ideological identity is not one of the topics that can enter the conversation”, to then add: “To be clear, another ideological orientation means another party”.
In Koumoundourou they understood the negative impact of these reports of Mr. Kasselakis and attempted corrective actions. Mr. Kasselakis himself posted: “You know very well that even in my confessions, in my narratives, in the personal moments that make up my life, I am myself. You already know my heart.” “Political miracles are happening in politics and SYRIZA, which everyone considered to have been written off from the political system, is regrouping and gaining momentum”, was the very under-the-radar comment of Mrs. Kehagia, on TALK Radio 9.89.
That’s why they didn’t convince even their most loyal followers. “Stefan, the cross that was formed is the one carried by us who vote for SYRIZA,” wrote the lyricist Nikos Moraitis, one of Mr. Kasselakis’s warmest supporters, in his own post.
#Kasselakis #double #blow #SYRIZA
