The second SYRIZA conference re-elected Alexis Tsipras as party president with 93.54% of the total vote.
Out of the total 2,926 delegates, 2,758 voted with 176 of them casting a blank ballot and 34 ballots were not valid. No other SYRIZA member expressed the desire to run for party president, an indication that Tsipras remains popular as party leader.
After the president’s election, the ballots for the new Central Committee will be counted and the results are expected later tonight.
The Central Committee will consist of 151 members and will represent the various tendencies and groups within the party, as several disagreements became apparent during the conference. They will be chosen out of 419 candidates.
The “53” faction, the hard leftists of SYRIZA, criticized some of the government’s policies and expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Tsipras is “flirting” with former PASOK ministers and MPs who were present at the conference.
The fact that several SYRIZA “big names” did not run for the Central Committee raised questions among political analysts. Specifically, Interior Minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis, Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis chose not to be on the ballot for the Central Committee.
Previously, the Central Committee consisted of 201 members but the party decided to reduce the seats to 151.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
