The Coalition of the Radical Left’s (SYRIZA) parliamentary group was rocked last week when parliamentary leader Alekos Alavanos tendered his resignation from the party and offered to give up his seat in Parliament, but a final decision was put off until Monday.
Alavanos offered his resignation following his earlier call for SYRIZA and its senior coalition partner, the Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology (SYN), to radically rethink their political strategy in light of SYRIZA’s poor results in the European Parliament elections.
It appears that Alavanos’s decision has been prompted by his falling out with 34-year-old Alexis Tsipras, who succeeded him as leader of the coalition.
However his resignation was rejected by the coalition’s secretariat when it met and it decided to continue discussions today (Monday).
During the secretariat’s meeting pressure was exerted on Alnot to insist on his decision to resign.
SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras characterised the resignation of Alavanos from Parliament as an ‘unpleasant development’ and that the coalition’s poor showing in the recent Euro-elections ‘was bad but not disastrous’. In the wake of rampant press speculation, Tsipras also said he does not intend to resign.