Paulos Polakis has issued a new call to members of SYRIZA’s Central Committee, insisting that Saturday’s scheduled meeting will go ahead as planned at 10:30 a.m. at the Wyndham Hotel on Karaiskaki Square—despite an official announcement by party secretary Anastasia Sapouna postponing it. Polakis urged SYRIZA members to disregard Sapouna’s messages, asserting she lacks the authority to postpone the session and accusing her of acting ‘in coordination with circles seeking SYRIZA’s dissolution.’
‘No Authority, No Legitimacy’
In a social media post, Polakis wrote: ‘Everyone tomorrow at the Wyndham Hotel at 10:30 a.m., Karaiskaki Square, for the Central Committee of SYRIZA-PS, convened by 75 member signatures.’ He added in sharper tones: ‘Do not give any weight whatsoever to messages sent by a deputy secretary who holds no such authority to delay the meeting.’
Polakis directly attributed political intent to the opposing camp’s actions: ‘Clearly, she is doing this in coordination with circles aiming to dissolve SYRIZA.’ He concluded emphatically: ‘SYRIZA-PS will exist—and grow stronger—again. Full stop.’
Two Parallel Parties?
This latest intervention confirms that the crisis at SYRIZA’s headquarters on Koumoundouros Street has long surpassed the boundaries of ordinary internal disagreement. Following Sokratis Famellos’s resignation, the party is no longer merely divided over political direction, Alexis Tsipras’s potential return, or relations with the Greek Left Coalition (EAS). It is now fractured over something more fundamental: whether, when, and by whom its top decision-making bodies are convened.
On one side, Anastasia Sapouna states there is ‘no official convening of the Central Committee by the party.’ On the other, Polakis and Nikos Pappas insist the meeting will proceed as scheduled—citing both the 75-member petition and a statement from Fotis Kouvelis, head of the Party’s Ethics Committee.
The situation increasingly resembles two parallel SYRIZAs: two factions invoking the same statutes, issuing contradictory instructions to the same members, and arriving at diametrically opposed decisions.
Sapouna’s Rationale for Postponement
Sapouna argues the postponement was necessary following Famellos’s resignation, to allow time for the mandated succession procedures—including the election of a new president and his replacement—to unfold first. According to the official line from Koumoundouros, the Political Secretariat will meet on Monday, 13 July at 3 p.m., and Sapouna’s proposal is for the Central Committee to convene on 18 July instead.
This position was formalized in an official SYRIZA press release stating that Saturday’s extraordinary Central Committee session had been postponed following the president’s resignation. The announcement stresses that the process to elect a new president must begin first, with the Political Secretariat tasked with scheduling the ‘necessary’ Central Committee meeting.