After a period of internal chaos, Greece’s once-dominant hard-left Syriza party has elected a new leader.
Sokratis Famellos secured 49.41% of the vote, just shy of the majority needed to avoid a run-off, but his main rival, Pavlos Polakis, conceded defeat with 43.51%. This avoided a second round of voting.
Famellos, who briefly chaired the Syriza parliamentary group after Alexis Tsipras stepped down in 2023, now faces the daunting task of reviving the struggling party. Once the ruling party in Greece, Syriza has fallen into decline, especially after a series of crushing defeats to the centre-right New Democracy (ND) Party. The party’s woes deepened after the rise of Stefanos Kasselakis, an outsider who briefly took control of Syriza in 2023. Kasselakis, a former Goldman Sachs employee and shipowner, sparked controversy with his policy proposals, such as advocating employee stock options and tax cuts—positions seen as a betrayal by many long-time members.
Critics accused Kasselakis of veering toward populism and even “Trumpian practices,” leading to an exodus of party members. In November, he was ousted and announced the formation of a new group, Movement for Democracy. As a result, Syriza’s support continued to plummet, while the traditional Socialist Party, PASOK, gained ground. In June, Syriza received only 14% of the vote in European Parliament elections, and internal defections continue. On November 19, two Syriza MPs left, bringing the party’s parliamentary seats to just 29—fewer than PASOK.
One of the departing MPs, Theodora Tzakri, said her exit was “an act of self-respect” and criticized Syriza’s leadership for undermining its role as the main opposition. With internal voter turnout also slipping, the future of the Syriza party remains uncertain as Famellos attempts to restore order and credibility to the fractured left-wing movement.
