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Greek opposition leader Kasselakis ousted by Syriza party
Stefanos Kasselakis, leader of main opposition party Syriza, speaks to supporters outside the party's headquarters in Athens, Greece, September 25, 2023

GREEK’S opposition leader has been ousted by his party’s central committee in a vote of no confidence, as Syriza plunges into turmoil.

The ousting of Stefanos Kasselakis on Sunday comes just a year after his election to lead the left-wing party.

Some Syriza activists accused him of being authoritarian and not fully ideologically aligned with the party.

After an acrimonious two-day session, the central committee of Syriza approved the no-confidence motion 163-120.

Mr Kasselakis reacted to the result of the vote by saying that he felt “liberated.”

“Now, the people know how I felt censured ever since I was elected,” Mr Kasselakis said as he attacked Syriza’s “bureaucracy” for overturning the decision of the party base and criticised the secret ballot. 

He and his supporters preferred an open show of hands.

Mr Kasselakis — who was elected in September 2023 — compared the secret ballot’s promoters to the “hooded collaborators in World War II.”

Mr Kasselakis was elected in September 2023 by voters stunned over the magnitude of defeat in two successive elections in May and June 2023 at the hands of a conservative party that had already served a full term.

After long-term party leader and former prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned, party supporters turned to Mr Kasselakis — an outsider, a political neophyte, and a Miami, Florida, resident. 

A former Goldman Sachs employee and shipowner and one-time registered Republican, some of his positions — such as advocating stock options for employees — incensed long-time party members who accused him of behaving in a “Trumpian” manner.

The party’s central committee will now set a date for an extraordinary congress where leadership hopefuls will put themselves forward for election.

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