The time has come to begin a new cycle in SYRIZA, party leader Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday, in his statements at Zappeio after a meeting of the Executive Bureau of the party.
“The new SYRIZA is the immediate priority,” he stressed.
“I understand the need for a new wave in SYRIZA. And I have decided to step aside so it can pass. I have confidence in the human resources of our party. In the inexhaustible forces of society and the Left. I therefore decided to propose the election of a new leadership by the members of the party, as stipulated in its constitution. An immediate recourse to the relevant procedures. In which, of course, I will not be a candidate. But I will be present before, during and after them,” he said.
Tsipras said that “the negative election result can and should be the start of it. The electoral body gave SYRIZA a double mandate. First, to respond to the role of the main opposition. Which is always and de facto is the role of a party with potential to assume power. And secondly, to change drastically, if it wants to once again aspire to a governmental role with worth.”
He noted that “we must live up to this popular mandate. We must reorganise immediately and without any delay. Let’s not allow a single day to be lost.”
“There are certain moments when you are called upon to make critical decisions. I now have the experience not to take these decisions in the heat of the moment, to decide calmly, as my decisions also affect other people,” Tsipras stressed.
“These difficult decisions obviously concern me as well, I was the first to be the head of SYRIZA in an important cycle that is closing,” he said and referred to the course of the party.
“I took over a small party of the Left; the journey we took was exciting,” he noted. He also stated that he was “proud” of what SYRIZA achieved during his governance: “the exit from the memoranda and the healing of society’s wounds.”
The developments follow SYRIZA’s electoral defeat in the polls of June 25, during which the party gathered 17.83% and 48 seats.
The political secretariat of SYRIZA will meet in the next few days in order to start the procedures for the new leadership and the transformation of the main opposition party, senior SYRIZA officials told “Naftemporiki” after the announcement of the resignation of Alexis Tsipras.
The same sources said that after the political secretariat, the parliamentary group of the party will convene in order to elect its new president.
