Stefanos Kasselakis visits the Parthenon, SYRIZA-PA youth group in Thessaloniki leave the party

Stefanos Kasselakis visited the Parthenon on Sunday, a critical day for the future of his party as Efi Ahtsioglou’s group meets to decide whether or not to stay in SYRIZA opposition officer tours the archaeological site, enjoying more carefree moments.

Good weather favoured the opposition leader’s walk in the historical area.

The youth group of main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance in Thessaloniki on Sunday announced its departure from the party, saying that the speech given by party leader Stefanos Kasselakis to the Central Committee was “divisive” and “confirmed the authoritarian model by which the new leadership operates, where only one opinion, that of the president, prevails.”

At the same time, Alexis Tsipras, the former leader of SYRIZA, expressed his concern about the deep divisions within the leftist party following the election of Stefanos Kasselakis in a meeting with him on Wednesday, sources close to the former prime minister said.

In the meeting last week, requested by Kasselakis, Tsipras emphasised the great importance of unity, to mount a credible opposition to the Conservative government, and in view of the upcoming European elections, the same source said.

“This unity that can only be preserved by the faithful observance of the statute and the drafting of a political plan by the party that must operate without exclusions and with an inclusive attitude for all points of view,” the source said, in an apparent criticism over Kasselakis’ attempts to expel high ranking members of the party.

In an unofficial briefing on the meeting, SYRIZA said that the current and former president of the main opposition “communicate regularly,” adding that the discussion “was comprehensive with a focus on the need for unity in the party.”

On 12 November, a faction announced it was breaking away from the party, accusing Kasselakis of abandoning its core ideology for a sort of “right-wing populism.”

The split, which came after weeks of withering criticism of the leader from within the party, became inevitable in recent days, when Kasselakis insisted he wanted to expel three prominent members of the Umbrella faction, all former ministers.

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