According to information, MP Fthiotidas, who met today with Sokratis Famellos, in Koumoundourou, announced to the new president of SYRIZA his decision to become independent from the party. And this has nothing to do with his face, but with what he believes happened in the last months.
It is recalled that on Sunday Yannis Sarakiotis did not vote in his internal party elections, while he was photographed next to Stefanos Kasselakis at the anniversary events for the blowing up of the Gorgopotamos bridge.
According to information, however, Mr. Sarakiotis does not intend at this stage to join the Democracy Movement of Stefanos Kasselakis.
So far, there are five MPs who have declared their faith in the new venture of the former president of SYRIZA (Theodora Tzakri, Iota Poulos, Alexandros Avlonitis, Kyriaki Malama, Rallia Christidou) and one (Petros Pappas), who is following the proceedings closely in Kasselaki camp.
Sokratis Famellos: The seven thorns for the new president of SYRIZA
THE Socrates Famous he is the new president of SYRIZA from the first round, although in the end he did not receive 50% plus one vote, but 49.36%. And he became president from the first round because Pavlos Polakis who collected 43.57% – and not an insignificant percentage – said that there should not be a second round, “so that the people of SYRIZA will not suffer”.
This is the second story that Koumoundourou is trying to “sell” since the internal party elections. The first was the percentages without decimal places corresponding to 20%, which he gave early Sunday evening.
Regarding the second one, Andreas Drymiotis noted it and the answers were two. The official one that said that the company that undertook the process “has been a company for 40 years, is well-known, etc.” and the unofficial one given by Koumoundourou executives: “Okay, guys, we rounded them up, because they were the trends…”.
Regarding the first, the official answer was given: “So that the people of SYRIZA don’t suffer”. The unofficial one? It is said that even if it is not revealed immediately, it will soon be seen what the trade-offs are with which Polakis backed down and agreed to not having a second round.
Already there are not a few who say that for Polakis it is better with “half of SYRIZA” with him, as he said – not by chance, obviously – in his first statements, than the smaller percentage that everyone estimates he would get if he became the second round.
1 COEXISTENCE WITH POLAKI
Coexistence with Pavlos Polakis is the first challenge for the new president of SYRIZA, Sokratis Famellos, who is said to have been asked before the elections how he will get along with Polakis if he becomes president, answering “we will get along well with Pavlos ».
Polakis already said that he will work on the basis of the six-point proposal he has made. Among them, the nationalization of PPC, EL.PE. and of the National Bank and the repeal of all the laws of the period of the three Nnimonians as well as all the laws of the Mitsotakis government. Will Socrates Famous agree with these? And if he does not agree, how will Polakis react, when he sees that Famellos’ SYRIZA does not agree with his proposals? Everyone agrees that it is still too early for such discussions and assessments. But will Polakis, who was creating problems under Tsipras, continue to coordinate with the official line under Famellos? This is a question and at the same time a key challenge for the new president. 2
2. TREATMENT OF CHIPRA
Famellos may have confused some when he said that “we know very well what important responsibilities we have towards our party, its values, its history, the legacies of the Left government of Alexis Tsipras, but also towards society”, but the the second challenge he has to face is Alexis Tsipras.
Even before the first round of internal party elections, the prevailing feeling in SYRIZA was that Alexis Tsipras did not consider either president Sokratis Famellos or president Pavlos Polakis to be an obstacle to his plans. He did not consider the latter an obstacle because he believed that if elected president, SYRIZA would immediately and clearly become a small, lumpen party and this would facilitate his plans, since it would free up many SYRIZA executives and voters to follow him. He does not consider the former an obstacle, as was discussed before Sunday, because he does not consider him to be such a size that would create a problem for him in his attempt to include SYRIZA in his plans.
Will Socrates Famous vindicate Alexis Tsipras and his assessments? It is also a key question and another challenge for the new president of SYRIZA.
3 INDEPENDENCES
Fourth “thorn” for Sokratis Famellos is to stop the “bleeding” of the party at the level of the Parliamentary Group, executives, but also voters and at the same time to promote the intersections in the party function and with the constitutional changes for which he has committed before the elections.
What will G do? Sarakiotis who didn’t even go to vote in the internal party elections on Sunday? Will it become independent or not? What will Evangelos Apostolakis do? Nina Kasimati said yesterday that she will remain in SYRIZA, while Athina Linou – who is in an open legal dispute with Pavlos Polakis of 43% – said that with the election of Famellos she will think again about her political future. Will Sokratis Famellos try to convince MPs who became independent and have not yet joined Stefanos Kasselakis to return to the SYRIZA Parliamentary Group? Will he attempt to speak with them personally, one on one, as some reports said yesterday? Will he also call Petros Pappa who seems to be wavering about what he will do?
4 PROOFS…
Since yesterday, the office of Sokratis Famellos is on the 7th floor of the Koumoundouros offices, which have been closed since September 8. But even so, there are not a few who say that he is “transitional”, while he declares to the cameras in front that “we will rebuild our house from scratch”. This is the second challenge for Socrates Famellos. To convince that he is not “transitional”, to convince that he was not elected just to prepare the ground for the return of Alexis Tsipras to the political arena, as most claim.
5 COOPERATION POLICY
The fifth “thorn” for the new president of SYRIZA is the relations with the New Left and in general the policy of cooperation. Will he attempt to reach out to the New Left so that SYRIZA can once again become the official opposition in Parliament, as some say? Will he attempt to talk to Alexis Haritsis, who, on the occasion of Famello’s election, declared the day before yesterday “we are not sheep to return to the fold”? The information of the “Free Press” insists that in the first phase Sokratis Famellos will attempt a partnership within the Parliament with both the New Left and PASOK. And it will move accordingly. There is also the election of the President of the Republic ahead, which is not only a challenge for New Democracy, but also for the opposition parties.
6 THE MEDIA
Six “thorns” for Sokratis Famellos are the ominous finances of the party. What will he do with the party media? The workers at “Avgi” have been paid for months and are issuing strike letters. What will the new president do about them?
7 RESTORATION OF RATES
However, the seventh and biggest “thorn” for Sokratis Famellos is the challenge of turning SYRIZA back into a party of power. Big words are nice, but there is also the harsh reality. For months now, public opinion has removed SYRIZA from the cadre of ruling parties and considers it a small party that has returned to its original percentages. In a few days, the debate on the Budget begins in the Parliament. A bright field of glory for the parties that want to confront the government and inform the Greek people about their proposals. Is SYRIZA ready to cope with such a difficult mission, all the more so when PASOK already functions as the official opposition in Parliament?
Finally, a footnote: Sokratis Famellos has relived the Budget battle in the Parliament, last year. At that time he was the head of the official opposition, but he was not the president of SYRIZA. Now he will be the president of SYRIZA, but he will not be the head of the official opposition…
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