9 lawmakers from Greek main opposition SYRIZA resign from party

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Nine lawmakers, including former ministers, on Thursday resigned from the Greek main opposition SYRIZA party and accused the party leader of running it “undemocratically.”

Among those who quit the party are former Labor Minister Efi Achtsioglou, former Alternate Foreign Minister Sia Anagnostopoulou, former Deputy Labor Minister Nasos Iliopoulos, former Government spokesperson Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, one of the party’s founders Meropi Tzoufi, former Alternate Social Solidarity Minister Fotiou Theano, former Interior Minister Alexis Charitsis, and lawmakers Ozgur Ferhat and Huseyin Zeybek – both representing the country's Turkish minority in the Western Thrace.

Commenting on the development, Iliopoulos announced that former Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and former member of the party’s central committee Peti Perka will join them and a separate parliamentary group of 11 will be formed.

In a joint statement, the lawmakers said: “Greece is at a critical point … the extreme right and reactionary perceptions are gaining ground … Faced with this development, the forces of the progressive opposition appear at a distance from the anxieties and problems of the citizen.”

“This is a deeply political issue. There is a lack of a modern political and social project that convinces us, not rhetorically, but in practice, that we can defeat the domination of the right,” the statement said.

It said that “millions of Greeks” are expecting a left-wing party that can produce progressive solutions to the country’s problems as “SYRIZA is sinking into disrepute.”