Stefanos Tzoumakas

Stefanos Tzoumakas, a party member who was set under suspension by SYRIZA president Stefanos Kasselakis, announced his departure from the party on Sunday.

Tzoumakas was the first of the four members of the party to leave the party after Kasselakis's initiative to expel four prominent party cadres who had been highly critical of him since his election. 

Main opposition SYRIZA has been plunged into turmoil again, after the proposal by its leader Stefanos Kasselakis to hold a referendum about the expulsion of prominent dissenters from the party appears to have backfired as senior figures that had so far backed him expressed their disagreement.

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis has called on the main opposition party to hold an internal referendum on the expulsion of "four party members who brutally insulted all of us."

The famous phrase uttered by the late premier and PASOK leader Andreas Papandreou in 1986 when he expelled then-minister Gerasimos Arsenis from the party after a critical speech the latter gave in Karditsa, has gone down in history: "With his actions, Mr Arsenis has removed himself from the party."

Greece's leftist main opposition is holding its standing congress to approve the candidates running for party leadership at the Foundation of the Hellenic World on Saturday.

The congess' agenda includes only that topic, and its proceedings will open at 11 a.m.

Main opposition party SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance on Monday officially announced the launch of the campaign for the election of a new party leader, scheduled to be held on September 10.

Two main pre-electoral mottos are "On September 10, I participate" and "Tomorrow begins with us", it was noted in the party announcement.

Efi Achtsioglou, the former social security minister and considered the front-runner in the race to succeed Alexis Tsipras as SYRIZA leader, has proposed that not only party members but also party supporters should be allowed to participate in the September 10 ballot.

The contest for a new leader of the left-wing SYRIZA party has already produced realignments among the party's several factions and they are probably not over yet.

A large number of veteran politicians, former ministers and celebrities from the arts, sports and journalistic fields failed at the final hurdle on Sunday as voters turned their backs on them.