Skip to main content
What's left? Delusion, reaction and surrender in the Syriza leadership contest
Syriza, once the focus of left-wing hopes across Europe, looks set to pick a super-rich shipping magnate as its new leader. KEVIN OVENDEN asks what this tells us
demo

BARRING an act of god the next leader of the once radical-left Syriza party in Greece will be a multimillionaire shipping boss come Sunday night.

You read that right. Businessman Stefanos Kasselakis, who campaigned for Joe Biden in preference to Barack Obama in 2008, had nothing to do with Syriza until he launched his candidacy for leader in August. That followed the announcement by Alexis Tsipras that he was standing down in the wake of terrible election results in June.

In the first round last Sunday Kasselakis took 45 per cent of the vote, which is of members and registered supporters. The perceived continuity candidate Efi Achtsioglu got 36 per cent. Kasselakis is sure this Sunday to get the 8 percentage points of a once powerful cabinet minister who has endorsed him.

Morning Star call for advertising
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Kim Leadbeater
Features / 21 March 2025
21 March 2025
The shameful passage of the assisted dying Bill where safeguards have been all but jettisoned is symptomatic of a hyper-liberalised society where the cult of individualism reigns supreme, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to soldiers at
Features / 21 February 2025
21 February 2025
The proxy war in Ukraine is heading to a denouement with the US and Russia dividing the spoils while the European powers stand bewildered by events they have been wilfully blind to, says KEVIN OVENDEN
MB
Features / 6 December 2024
6 December 2024
As heavy industry flees and public-sector strikes paralyse the nation, the French leader’s increasingly desperate attempts to rule without a majority reveal the deep crisis at the heart of European liberal democracy, writes KEVIN OVENDEN
Golden Dawn
Features / 5 August 2024
5 August 2024
KEVIN OVENDEN draws on the Greek anti-fascist movement’s resounding successes against the neonazi Golden Dawn to outline a united front strategy to challenge state racism and surging mob violence