The political reality at Koumoundourou now resembles a scene from a science fiction movie, where the protagonists seem to live in completely different galaxies.
With the clock ticking down and the end credits rolling for the presidency of Sokratis Famellos in SYRIZA looming menacingly, he himself is adopting a stance that to many seems as if it came from another planet.
At a time when the party is sinking in the polls, the party president states unequivocally that he does not want a rival slate to run against the new initiative of Alexis Tsipras.
Instead of seeking a head-on confrontation to ensure the survival of his own political party, Mr. Famellos ardently maintains that SYRIZA supports this new movement, seeing in it the only way forward for the convergence of the progressive camp.
Continuing a political stance of “one thing for another,” it dispels any scenario… of introversion, rejecting the possibility of the party’s MPs resigning and insisting on the need to strengthen the parliamentary group. As for the rumors swirling behind the scenes, he himself describes his relationship with Alexis Tsipras as excellent, categorically denying any speculation about secret backroom deals.
This almost… Buddhist-like composure of Famelos provokes a furious reaction from the other side, with Pavlos Polakis taking up the gauntlet and setting the record straight in his own, familiar way.
Indirectly but clearly declaring his “presence” for the future and the leadership of SYRIZA, the independent MP from Chania makes it clear that he has never backed down at critical moments.
For P. Polakis, the collapse in the polls is an open wound that cannot be allowed to continue and demands radical, clear-cut solutions here and now. Launching a head-on attack, he calls it unthinkable that a party president would support another political faction, while making sharp criticisms of the Central Committee’s decision, interpreting it either as the result of a secret agreement between Famellos-Tsipras or as an improbable and indescribable act of political subservience.
Without absolving the current president of his responsibility for the plunge in the party’s poll numbers from 10% to 2%, the MP emphasizes that SYRIZA has a history and a future that must not be squandered.
At the same time, although he declares himself a staunch supporter of coalitions, he makes it clear that A. Tsipras’s policy presentation does not satisfy him in any way.
What is certain is that the coming period promises to be turbulent, with P. Polakis calling for a shift in the balance of power within the Central Committee and showing the door to those who cannot withstand the conflict, bringing the end of Famellos’s presidency closer.
