SYRIZA is divided over whether to join forces with EL.A.S., with Socrates Famellos facing pressure from internal backlash and open challenges from party officials.
The image of a party unable to decide whether it will continue to exist autonomously or whether it will function as a political antechamber for ELAS. of Alexis Tsipras is now dominant within SYRIZA. The Koumoundourou headquarters is facing a deep identity crisis, as top officials publicly question the leadership, members of parliament openly disagree with the strategy being pursued, and the discussion has shifted to the question of whether SYRIZA will ultimately run in the <a href="https://tomanifesto.gr/elections as an independent political organization or as a political offshoot of Tsipras’s new venture. The internal strife has taken on the proportions of a civil war, with political erosion accelerating daily.
The problem for Socrates Famellos is not only that he is under fire from all sides. It is that he is called upon to manage a party in which a significant portion of officials and members of parliament consider his move toward EL.A.S. to be almost a foregone conclusion, while another segment views the leadership’s strategy as a plan to gradually hand over SYRIZA to Alexis Tsipras. Amid this toxic environment, every public intervention serves as a new source of conflict, revealing that the internal party wounds are not only failing to heal but are deepening.
Nikos Pappas directly challenges Famellos’s strategy
Nikos Pappas’s public intervention confirmed that the conflict has now moved to another level. The former minister did not limit himself to specific disagreements, but directly raised the issue of political direction, asking whether Socrates Famellos even intends to present SYRIZA’s program at the Thessaloniki International Fair.
The question was not accidental. In essence, it expressed the concern of a large segment of party officials who believe that the leadership has abandoned the effort to establish an autonomous political presence and is operating exclusively within the logic of supportingTsipras’s project. When a party debates whether or not to present its platform, the problem is not one of communication but of very existence.
Famellos’s Line and the Image of Political Tradition
Socrates Famellos insists that SYRIZA maintains its autonomy. At the same time, however, he reiterates that there should be no opposing ticket running against EL.A.S., consistently acknowledging the decisive role of Alexis Tsipras’s new political entity.
It is precisely this contradiction that is fueling the internal party crisis. Because many at the party headquarters on Koumoundourou Street are wondering how a party can proclaim its autonomy when it rules out an independent electoral contest from the outset. To the leadership’s critics, Famellos’s line seems more like a political preparation for surrender than a strategy for reconstruction.
Polakis: “Choose who you’re going to side with”
Even more explosive was Pavlos Polakis’s intervention. The now-independent MP made no secret of his complete disagreement with the leadership’s strategy and described as “nonsense” the attempt to reach out to a political party that, he claims, has not invited SYRIZA to cooperate.
The message to the members of parliament was clear: they must decide which side they are on. This is essentially a call for internal party alignment, a fact that confirms the debate has gone beyond the bounds of a political disagreement and is turning into a battle for dominance over the future.
The majority sees ELAS as the only way forward.
At the same time, more and more party officials appear to consider an alliance with Alexis Tsipras’s party inevitable. Public statements by members of parliament characterizing the possibility of a separate SYRIZA ballot as “undesirable” reveal the extent of the political shift.
The message being sent is that a large part of the party apparatus has already accepted that the political initiative now lies in the hands of the former prime minister. However, this creates a new paradox: the more people talk about aligning with ELAS, the more the very existence of SYRIZA as an autonomous political entity is undermined.
The internal struggle is just beginning
Christos Giannoulis’s statements that decisive decisions will be made by the end of August indicate that developments have simply been postponed. Nothing has been resolved, and neither side seems willing to back down.
The only certainty is that SYRIZA is entering a period of prolonged internal conflict, with open confrontations against the leadership, divergent strategies for the future, and an ever-increasing number of party officials looking toward the ELAS. As Socrates Famellos tries to strike a balance between independence and cooperation, the image of a party struggling to decide whether it wants to survive or hand over the reins to its political founder grows stronger.
