The political secretariat of SYRIZA has arranged to convene on Monday, with the possible participation of party leader Alexis Tsipras, in preparation of the upcoming elections in autumn. At Friday’s meeting it was decided to hold a new meeting on Monday, in order to call a Central Committee within the week, where the party’s overall electoral strategy and program will be on the table.
Mr. Tsipras’ proposal of forming three electoral committees for establishing a program, ballots and communication was accepted, with the appointments at the three committees scheduled for Monday. Similarly government and party officers will be appointed in the positions of those who recently departed, so that the party’s political secretariat is prepared to fully address the challenges ahead.
During the meeting of his party’s political secretariat on Friday, Mr. Tsipras underlined that SYRIZA has the opportunity to establish a new relationship with the people, as well as the opportunity to develop “the clear ideological and political position of a contemporary, radical Left, free from conservative residues or delusions”.
Post-election alliance considerations
Until recently it was rumored that any SYRIZA MPs who did not support the bailout agreement and relevant legislative bills in Parliament would not be included in the party’s ballots. However this position appears to have been revised, with the party leadership to examine them on a case-by-case basis.
The governing party is under a lot of pressure to clarify its alliance strategy ahead of the elections. At present Mr. Tsipras is unwilling to meet with Evangelos Meimarakis – provisional leader of main opposition party New Democracy –or the leader of the Popular Union Panagiotis Lafazanis. With SYRIZA aiming to form a single-party government, many officers have ruled out the possibility of an alliance with New Democracy, the River or PASOK.
