Marinos Skandamis Will Not Run Again as a PASOK Candidate – Criticism Directed at Nikos Androulakis

“‘The vote I am asking for will not be part of any coalition government with New Democracy,’ he emphasizes pointedly, adding that “It saddens me to see that the conference’s message is being obscured by deliberate, systematic tactics that allow them to reopen the discussion of post-election collaborations in every direction, thereby preventing the formation of a shared vision for a truly progressive government.”

Marinos Skandamis, however, addressing friends and comrades, emphasizes that “there’s no way we’ll lose each other, since our paths and struggles are shared.”

Skandamis’s statement in full:

In the upcoming elections, I will not be a candidate for PASOK, despite the honorary proposal I received. It was not an easy decision to make. Because, together with many friends, we worked very hard in the hope that the party might return to the fundamental principles and ideas that made it a force for political change. Despite my public criticism of the party leadership, I gave it time, hoping that after the convention’s decision against any coalition government with New Democracy, things would take a different course.

However, I am saddened to see that the convention’s message is being obscured by deliberate, systematic tactics which allow them to reopen the discussion of post-election alliances in every direction, thereby preventing the formation of a common goal for a truly progressive government. Although partings are never easy emotionally, logically I cannot support my own candidacy under these circumstances.

I extend my special wishes to my friends and comrades who, under unequal conditions, are waging their own Sisyphean struggle within PASOK—the Movement for Change—for the ideals of uncompromising social democracy, socialism, the left, and environmentalism—may their goals be fulfilled. After all, there’s no way we’ll lose our way, since our paths and struggles are shared.