Stefanos Kasselakis, a Greek-American shipping investor and former banker who broke into Greek politics more than a year ago, left the country's main opposition party, the leftist Serias party, to form his own announced the formation of a political party.
Mr Kaserakis announced his withdrawal from Syria on Friday after a two-day party conference refused to consider a leadership candidate in a leadership election to be held later this month.
Kaserakis, 36, has lived most of his life in the United States and only entered Greek politics as a candidate for national elections in May 2023. Syriza suffered two disastrous defeats in elections held in May and June of that year. He unexpectedly entered the leadership race to replace long-time leader Alexis Tsipras and won in September 2023.
His main opponent, Efi Akzioglu, and some of her supporters left the party in December 2023 and formed a new organization, the New Left. Many of the SYRIZA members who supported Kaserakis immediately took offense to him, accusing him of not being a true leftist. Kaserakis did not like his confrontational style and open contempt for elected party institutions.
In September, SYRIZA's central committee expelled Kaserakis from his post following a no-confidence motion. He had planned to contest the legitimacy of the vote and run for party leadership, but was blocked by the party's central committee.
In addition to Kaserakis, four other members also left the party on Friday and Saturday. As a result, Syriza now has 31 members in Greece's 300-member parliament, the same number as the Socialist Party Pasok.
The once-dominant SYRIZA has been in turmoil since its crushing defeat to the conservative New Democracy Party in the 2023 election.
SYRIZA, which has been a rebel group since 2019, had been hoping to regain power. Instead, it was rejected outright, dropping to 17.8% in the latest elections compared to New Democracy's 40.6%, resulting in Prime Minister Tsipras' announcement of his resignation.
Mr. Kasselakis' style, built on his social media presence and charisma, and his past as a former Goldman Sachs employee and shipowner, puts him at odds with traditional leftists, including advocating for stock options for employees. Some in the position were also furious. His overall ideological ambiguity.
They openly mocked his “post-politics,” with one prominent party official even comparing him to former President Donald Trump and comedian Beppe Grillo, founder of Italy's populist party Five Star. .
Syria was ruled by Tsipras from 2015 to 2019. According to recent opinion polls, support for political parties has fallen to single digits.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
