With the title "Greek Radical Left’s Bet on a Goldman Alum Isn’t Working Out," Bloomberg commented on Stefanos Kasselakis' controversial take over the presidency of the official opposition party, SYRIZA.
The Bloomberg article opens: "The Greek opposition’s new leader has less than half a year to win over voters in European Union elections – but before that he has to convince his own party. The prospects for either are looking murky."
Stefanos Kasselakis was an unlikely choice for SYRIZA, the radical left party that railed against EU austerity policies and nearly forced the country out of the euro in 2015.
The former Goldman Sachs trader was virtually unknown before he ran for the leadership in September and came out on top only because of the mess his predecessor left behind as he did not endorse any of the candidates.
The result is a party leader whose views — support for private universities and stock options for workers — are more in line with his Wall Street past than with the old-school activists he is now trying to lead.
"Under his watch, Syriza has started to unravel," the Bloomberg article states, among other things.
"Rome wasn't built in a day"
“I took over just three months ago,” Kasselakis told Bloomberg. “Rome was not built in a day. But rest assured, we are well on our way and we will leave a legacy for generations to come."
Bloomberg takes a look at how Kasselakis managed to get elected to the presidency of SYRIZA and the latest developments where opinion polls show a big drop in SYRIZA's percentages.
“The term 'radical left' does not translate perfectly in English,” Kasselakis said in an interview. “The intention is to say 'groundbreaking left.' The Left that is not afraid to bring forth big, ambitious ideas, solutions that might make the elites uncomfortable.”
That's the definition he identifies with "fully," he said. "My whole life and certainly my life in Greek politics has been radical-groundbreaking."
A recent poll by the Palmos Analysis for the Free Press found that the ruling New Democracy has 32.1% in the intention to vote. PASOK-KINAL follows it in second place with 12.2%, and SYRIZA-PS, the official opposition, is in third place with 10.4%.
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) follows them with 8.5%, the Hellenic Solution with 4.9%, the Spartans with 3.0%, the Freedom Movement with 2.7%, Niki with 2.6%, MeRA25 with 2.3% and New Left with 1.8%.
In the popularity of political leaders, Kyriakos Mitsotakis gathers the most positive opinions with 38%. Dimitris Koutsoubas of KKE follows with 24%, Nikos Androulakis with 20%, while Kasselakis, is sixth with only 10%.
READ MORE: Mitsotakis visits the Alexander the Great exhibition at the Cycladic Museum exhibition.
