Internationalist Workers' Left

Stefanos Kasselakis, a Greek ship investor, declared his intention to run for the leadership of the main opposition on Tuesday, becoming the fifth candidate to enter the race.

The 35-year-old submitted his candidacy in a letter to the Prefectural Committee of Hania on Monday.

SYRIZA's choices of candidates for the local elections in October show that the party is out of touch with society. It is also heading fast toward a phase of introversion and contraction, leaving a vacuum in the opposition.

SYRIZA has endorsed Costas Zachariadis as its candidate for Athens mayor in the upcoming local government elections on October 8, the party's Political Secretariat said on Thursday.

The decision was between Zachariadis and Nikos Filis, the former minister of education, after the secretariat decided not to back former basketball player Nikos Pappas.

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.

SYRIZA members will elect their new leader on September 10 and, if necessary, on a second round on September 16, among four declared candidates.

Nikos Pappas, who served as the minister of digital policy, telecommunications, and media from November 2016 to July 2019, on Saturday announced his candidacy for the leadership of the leftist SYRIZA party.

Three months ago, I made the decision to actively engage with the Greek national elections as a brief interlude between two chapters in my business career. An expat who transferred to boarding school in Massachusetts, I have now lived outside Greece for 60% of my life.

Former SYRIZA Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is set to announce his bid for the leadership of the party on Friday.

"Euclid Tsakalotos will announce his intent to run in the upcoming leadership contest on Friday, July 14", stated a press release from his office on Wednesday.

SYRIZA MP Efi Achtsioglou, considered by analysts as one of the frontrunners to succeed Alexis Tsipras as the leader of the leftist opposition party, made the first official announcement of her candidacy on Wednesday.

The government presented a doctored report of success and of overcoming successive crises in its first term, Sokratis Famellos, head of the main opposition SYRIZA's parliamentary group, said Saturday.