A crushing electoral defeat to Greece’s ruling centre-right government has prompted a leadership change in the socialist opposition party, Syriza, as Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation Thursday, June 29th, saying that it was time for the group to select a new leader.
Syriza is still reeling from a woeful performance in last Sunday’s election which saw the party experience its worst result since 2009, as vote splitting and a lack of confidence among voters in the economy contributed to a thumping victory for the incumbent New Democracy party.
This was the second Greek election, as the gamble by New Democracy to secure a majority paid off, while Syriza’s share of the vote collapsed by over 10%. The poor performance undermined Syriza’s position as Greece’s primary opposition party: They experienced a serious reduction of their vote share in traditionally working-class areas of Athens and even in the socialist heartland of Crete.
Former Syriza finance minister Yanis Varoufakis—who split from the party in 2019—described Sunday’s result as a landmark moment for Greek politics and one that has handed the initiative to the far Right. Three right-wing nationalist parties earned parliamentary representation in last week’s election, including a group that is regarded as the successor organisation to the explicitly Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in a surprise rebound for the radical Right.
In a televised announcement, Tsipras, who has led the socialist Syriza Party since 2012, said that the defeat must herald a fresh start for the party and that he would no longer be at the helm of the party. “We are opening a new historical circle,” Tsipras declared as uncertainty gripped the party as to who is the most likely successor.
Tsipras served as Greek PM from 2015 to 2019 when he was accused by many on the Greek Left of betraying both his country and his principles in his handling of the financial crisis. Despite being elected in 2015 on a platform of ending troika-imposed austerity measures, Tsipras and Syriza famously reneged on that promise as Greece continued to comply with the terms of its bailout which mandated severe fiscal reforms to the detriment of Greek society.
Party insiders were, however, keen to stress the successes of the 48-year-old’s political career which included taking Syriza from a minor peripheral party to the head of government in just three years. After taking control of Syriza in 2009, Tsipras—an Athenian-born civil engineer and communist party activist— rode a wave of post-recession populism to power where he oversaw the latter half of the Greek bailout years before being defeated in 2019 by the conservative New Democracy Party.
His departure has left a hole in what was once Europe’s most successful socialist party with no clear successor candidate. Names that have so far been suggested to fill the vacuum include former labour minister Efi Achtsioglou, former economy minister Alexis Charitsis, as well as former minister for finance Euclid Tsakalotos. Former Greek Amnesty International Director and former Deputy PM Gabriel Sakellaridis, who left the Syriza government over austerity, is seen as an outside candidate representing the Left wing of the party.
