SYRIZA selecting candidates amidst infighting
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The big divide in every major call for the Radical Left Coalition party is over currency. While the center-left wing and party president Tsipras believe Greece should retain the Euro, the party's “Left platform”, representing a little less than 40% of the members, want a return to a national currency.
This divide inevitably caused SYRIZA problems over the weekend, when the discussion for the party's Euro MP candidacies took place. There was a lot of ideological bickering and, in the end, a series of vetos imposed by both sides.
As a result, two high profile academics were barred from the party candidacies: Yiannis Varoufakis was vetoed by the party's “Left Platform”, while Kostas Lapavitsas was vetoed by the center-left faction.
The Euro-candidates list will be completed and announced in a few days, before the April 18 deadline, but only seven slots remain empty. Of the remaining 42, there are 21 party candidates and 21 non-party candidates, social personalities with no direct party affiliation.
Notable among the latter are two journalists (Nikos Xydakis, Stelios Kouloglou), a Bulgarian born custodian syndicalist brutally attacked with acid in the past (Konstandina Kouneva) and an economics professor (Savas Rombolis).
The seven remaining candidates are expected to be widely recognized names that are expected to appeal to undecided voters. Among those most tossed around, popular comedian Lakis Lazopoulos who reportedly asked for a few days to make up his mind.
