ATHENS – Former deputy health minister Pavlos Polakis, who led a mutiny against now-deposed SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis, said he regretted helping him gain the helm and immediately cited his vision for taking over the party.

The provocative Polakis – who was ousted from SYRIZA’s parliamentary group over insulting a Health Ministry aide – only to be brought back, immediately turned on Kasselakis and led the push for a censure motion.

That brought No Confidence in the Greek-American businessman and set in motion coming elections at the end of November to pick a new leader for the embattled party, although Kasselakis might run again.

But it’s the firebrand Polakis who has already tried to elbow aside a growing field of candidates, telling OPEN TV that, “Supporting Kasselakis was a mistake,” and that he was misled by Kasselakis’ youth and hope for new ideas for the troubled party.

Kasselakis came out of nowhere in September, 2023 – he failed to be elected into Parliament – but used a social media campaign and not hiding his openly gay lifestyle – to persuade SYRIZA voters.

That came after former party leader and one-time premier Alexis Tsipras quit after being routed a second straight time by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the New Democracy Conservatives, leaving SYRIZA in near ruins.

Former SYRIZA spokeswoman Efi Achtsioglou was the front-runner at the time but was swept aside easily in the whirlwind that propelled Kasselakis to victory – with a lot of help from Polakis and Nikos Pappas, a former top aide to Tsipras.

“We needed to rebuild SYRIZA after Tsipras’ resignation. I felt that Achtsioglou was not capable of leading SYRIZA’s renewal, and … Kasselakis, being intelligent and a young person not entrenched in the system, had ideas with which I largely agreed. Seeing his appeal to young people, I believed he could lead SYRIZA’s reorganization,” said Polakis.

“He failed in many respects. First and foremost, he didn’t form a political team. Leftist parties aren’t one-man shows, even though a leader is necessary. With Tsipras, there were functioning institutions, but now we have ended up with a deteriorating mechanism,” Polakis also said.

“The excessive focus on his personal life overshadowed many of the good and correct things he said, which were the result of the work of many people,” he added, denouncing criticism that he’s homophobic.

NO PARTY LINE

He also blasted Kasselakis for questioning the political implications of the censure motion which saw the staff clear out their belongings at party headquarters and his close aides quit before some said Kasselakis should stay until new elections.

Adding to the melodrama, Kasselakis is reportedly leaning toward running again despite the open rebuke and his inability to coalesce the party or raise its fortunes against Mitsotakis, who has what looks to be an unassailable lead in polls.

Kasselakis went to the island of Spetses after a series of contacts, mostly by video calls, over the past few days with his closest allies and met with some lawmakers and party officials, said To Vima.

https://www.tovima.com/politics/kasselakis-reports-kasselakis-mulling-another-run-for-syriza-president/

The report said many Kasselakis supporters said the vote to get him out conflicted with the party’s charter and media reports said they will try to table objections at a central committee meeting in October.

In the meantime, reports said Kasselakis is trying to gauge whether there’s still enough support for him at the grassroots level to try to win the leadership again despite open rebellion from Tsipras supporters in the so-called Group of 87.

“Kasselakis realized he cannot move forward with creating a new formation, which is why he is behaving this way,” Polakis said. “Isn’t it expected that if a minister faces a motion of censure and it passes, they should resign?” he asked.

Kasselakis’ removal was confirmed on a 17-1 vote by the party’s political secretariat that came as a host of potential candidates were being discussed to take over the party that in recent polls has fallen to third behind the PASOK Socialists – who are also facing elections for a new leader, leaving Greece’s left in disarray.

Polakis tried to put himself out front and said that as SYRIZA leader he would drive an agenda focusing on “the needs of workers” although that was the platform under Tsipras that saw more austerity measures against workers that Polakis backed.

Polakis also said he would try to end what’s left of the measures attached to three international bailouts of 326 billion euros ($361.69 billion) that ended in 2018 and re-nationalize some state enterprises that were sold off and privatization.

“The country went bankrupt because the political class and the economic oligarchy knew they would remain unpunished,” he said, adding that “a portion of the judiciary was controlled by political power.”

Tsipras also said he would “crush the oligarchy,” only to come under their thumb as have all Greek political leaders, SYRIZA going against its own alleged principles in backing austerity and not trying to tax the shipping industry.