Alexis Tsipras

When Alexis Tsipras took over SYRIZA in 2008 - thanks mainly to Alekos Alavanos - the Synaspismos party had shed the permanent angst of the progressive left about whether it would make the 3% cut to enter Parliament, even though the rate of 5% in the 2007 elections was not very promising, not to mention the drop to 4.6% in 2009. 

A high-ranking SYRIZA official told Kathimerini last Sunday, when the party suffered its second successive crushing defeat, that the party's supporters until then had voted for Alexis Tsipras and that, starting from the expected party congress, they should learn to vote for SYRIZA.

SYRIZA's political secretariat has decided to propose a late August date for the left-wing party's Congress, with the aim of electing a new leader by early September.

Alexis Tsipras announced Thursday that he will step down as leader after 15 years and that he will not be a candidate for his own succession.

The absence of a clear policy cost SYRIZA and Alexis Tsipras dearly in the last election. In the past, vagueness had been one of the party's strengths.

In 2015, Tsipras led his party to three successive victories (two elections and a referendum), as each voter read what they wanted into his general promise to "abolish the memorandum."

Alexis Tsipras "is and will remain a huge political asset for the country and for the left worldwide," one potential contender for the leadership position in SYRIZA has said.

Efi Achtsioglou made the comments on social media a day after Tsipras resigned as leader of the main opposition party.

HALC's Erini Kosmas interviews Harris Mylonas about SYRIZA's defeat in the last election, the resignation of Alexis Tsipras from SYRIZA's leadership, and the future of the left in Greece in the wake of New Democracy's massive victory 

Following Alexis Tsipras' resignation as the leader of the leftist opposition party SYRIZA, speculation has intensified about his successor. The 48-year-old's decision came in the aftermath of the party's heavy defeat in the May 21 and June 25 elections

SYRIZA's crushing defeat in the May 21 and June 25 elections had de facto put the leftist party on the road to change - and the resignation of its leader Alexis Tsipras.

In a televised address on Thursday, Tsipras announced his decision, stating that "the time has come to start a new cycle," while calling for the party's reform.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the decision of Alexis Tsipras to resign from the leadership of SYRIZA was "expected" after his party's poor showing in several election battles.

Alexis Tsipras announced on Thursday he had submitted his resignation from the party's leadership after SYRIZA suffered a crushing defeat in two elections held in May and June.