Stefanos Kasselakis, in front of the Syriza party headquarters, in Athens (Greece), September 25, 2023. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / Portal
“Today hope triumphed. We are looking into the future! », introduced Stefanos Kasselakis, former financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, who caused a surprise in Athens on Sunday, September 24, by replacing Alexis Tsipras at the head of the left-wing Syriza party. With 56.6% of the vote, the thirty-year-old, unknown a few months ago, was nominated by more than 130,000 members and supporters of the party, especially thousands of young people who joined the party for 2 euros in recent weeks.
The businessman, who moved to the USA at the age of 14, prevailed against the favorite candidate Effie Achtsioglou, former labor minister in the government of Alexis Tsipras (2015-2019), who had previously been supported by the party leadership. When Stefanos Kasselakis declared himself candidate for party leadership on August 29, he surprised everyone and occupied social networks by presenting himself as a newcomer “who does not come from another party” with his imposing stature and his shirt with the sleeves rolled up. . political dynasty”, in contrast to the current conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and who “takes [sa] Legitimacy of his diverse professional experiences”.
He assured that he wanted to “show a different path” and during his short election campaign proposed innovative measures for a conservative Greek society: abolition of conscription, separation of church and state, opening of marriage to same-sex couples… That’s him. Furthermore, he is the one first openly gay politician to head a political party and appears with his companion, an emergency nurse. To his critics who accuse him of having worked for five years at the American investment bank Goldman Sachs, he replies: “If I hadn’t worked for capital, I wouldn’t have understood his arrogance and I wouldn’t be left behind -” Wing today . »
“We don’t need a Messiah”
For the center-right newspaper Kathimerini, “the Kasselakis conundrum” is partly explained by “curiosity” about this new charismatic figure and by the anger of some left-wing sympathizers towards a party that has disappointed them too much in the past. For many of them, Alexis Tsipras, who led Syriza for fourteen years and suffered a crushing defeat in June against Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was re-elected by more than 20 points, betrayed them when he introduced harsh austerity measures between 2015 and 2019.
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