Sokratis Famellos seems to have been caught out by his eagerness to seek unconditional cooperation with Alexis Tsipras, with the result that he is now unwelcome both in the ELAS and SYRIZA.
Socrates Famellos has been in a very gloomy mood in recent days. Despite his proclamations, his courtship of Alexis Tsipras isn’t going so well, as the former prime minister has made it clear that he will only accept those he personally chooses from SYRIZA into the Hellenic Police.
The worst part? Alexis Tsipras is personally annoyed with Sokratis Famellos because he believes he did not handle the dissolution of SYRIZA properly, resulting in the chaos at Koumoundourou affecting ELAS as well.
On the other hand, while the former prime minister is distancing himself from most of his former allies for public relations reasons, the more people within SYRIZA realize that Socrates Famellos acted hastily, risking their political annihilation. The so-called minority faction, led by Polakis, Pappas, and Dourou, is gradually becoming the majority as party officials defect to ELAS, while many realize that, in the end, the president of SYRIZA has trapped them.
Famellos’s reactions and desperate attempts
Already, 73 SYRIZA officials are calling for an emergency meeting of the party’s Central Committee, stating that the political landscape has changed and cooperation with ELAS seems impossible. In fact, they emphasize that under these circumstances, collective decisions must be revised and SYRIZA must proceed independently—a move that amounts to a challenge to the leadership of Famellos.
According to reports, nearly all of Socrates Famellos’s close associates, with the exception of the party’s new Central Committee secretary Anastasia Sapouna, have clearly distanced themselves from the president.
It won’t be long, then, before Sokratis Famellos can no longer remain at the helm of SYRIZA as he will have lost his foothold within the party’s governing bodies and will have no support from the other side—that is, from the former prime minister. Currently, Pavlos Polakis and Nikos Pappas are waiting in the wings, already working behind the scenes to oust Socrates Famellos.
It was no coincidence that Famellos stated that SYRIZA would be present at the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair as a party as usual, as he tries to reconnect with the Polakis–Pappas faction. But it’s probably too late.
The decisions have already been made; and in any case, there is no one in SYRIZA who believes the party can stand up to Alexis Tsipras under the current leadership. Most people are already assuming that by fall, SYRIZA will have a new leader.
