SYRIZA Infighting Over Candidates

With next month’s critical elections for Greek municipalities and the European Parliament on the horizon, the country’s major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) is dealing with some feuding in the ranks.
At a meeting to draw up a list of candidates, the party’s central committee approved the proclamation for the elections, but the Left Platform didn’t after its proposal for an amendment of an exit plan from the Eurozone was rejected.
The party is a loose collection of Maoists, Trotskyites, Leninists, Communists, Anarchists, anti-capitalists, ecologists and other fringe movements.
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is opposed to the terms of two bailouts from international lenders, the austerity measures that have created record unemployment and deep poverty.
He said he believes SYRIZA will beat the ruling New Democracy Conservatives and its partner the PASOK Socialists next month and force early national elections in which he will come to power.
He said he would then seek to revise the terms of 240 billion euros ($330.7 billion) in two bailouts from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) that came with conditions of big pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions.
Tsipiras said if that didn’t work he’d likely renege outright, although that could push Greece out of the Eurozone, unable to borrow from the markets, and broke.
The Left Platform said it wants Greece out of the Eurozone but didn’t get the backing of the party’s leader whose policies would likely accomplish the same although Tsipras said he wants to stay in the Eurozone, a contradiction in terms.
There were major disagreements over 30 candidates for the European elections, with the approval process expected to conclude on April 16.
The Left Platform expressed its reservation over non-party candidates, particularly that of MEP Kriton Arsenis, due to his close relationship with former PM and PASOK leader George Papandreou. Objections were also raised over various academics and economists.
Tsipras spoke before the Central Committee on Sunday and stressed that while SYRIZA will defeat New Democracy in the upcoming elections, his party members must convince the people that they “are ready and determined to win”.