Theodora Tzakri has announced her resignation from the political party Democrats – Progressive Centre, led by Stefanos Kasselakis. Until now, she served as the party’s vice president. In her statement, Tzakri cited fundamental disagreements with the party’s current direction, arguing that it has drifted away from its founding principles and adopted a clear rightward political shift.
Criticism of Leadership and Political Alignment
Tzakri delivered sharp criticism of the party leadership, stating she never agreed to join a party that would engage in political dialogue with figures and positions she describes as embodying extreme neoliberal and far-right ideologies. She emphasized her decades-long commitment to patriotic socialism and her consistent opposition to far-right, right-wing, and neoliberal policies in public life.
A Longstanding Political Identity
In her resignation statement, Tzakri reflected on over 30 years of public service rooted in the same core values. She noted that for 23 years, voters in the Pella region re-elected her as their parliamentary representative — a testament, she said, to shared political convictions. She recalled the original vision behind founding the Movement for Democracy, later renamed Democrats – Progressive Centre at Kasselakis’s initiative: to restore integrity and credibility to progressive forces amid what they viewed as dead-end and unethical party practices.
Red Lines and Institutional Integrity
Tzakri stressed that while she made sustained internal efforts to preserve cohesion and ethical political bonds within the movement, there are limits — and red lines — that, once crossed, make one complicit in distorting both the movement’s founding declaration and each member’s personal political trajectory. She concluded that Kasselakis’s actions have effectively legitimized an unmistakable rightward turn — a development that compelled her to step down as vice president and party member.