Olga Gerovassili, who has been at the center of developments in SYRIZA, clarified today, Monday (23.9.2024), that she will not be a candidate for the presidency of the opposition party.
Speaking on ANT1 television, she noted that she has decided not to participate in the electoral race and emphasized that “SYRIZA has shown great patience with Mr. Kasselakis.”
“There is an organized character assassination army; the people of SYRIZA have shown great tolerance towards Stefanos Kasselakis. We must do everything possible to ensure that he does not win again, and I will join forces for this purpose. The candidates may be more than one, but in my opinion, there should be only one,” she added.
When asked what she would do if Stefanos Kasselakis were elected again, she replied, “We’ll see, there are many scenarios,” while regarding whether she will announce who she will support for the leadership of SYRIZA, Olga Gerovassili stated that she has not thought about it yet.
She continued by saying: “We want SYRIZA to be an alternative for the country. It appeals from the democratic center to the left.”
At another point, she noted: “As a personal wish, I would like a strong Centre-Left in the country, along with PASOK, potentially with Alexis Tsipras as the leader.”
Here is what Olga Gerovassili said in detail:
During her intervention on the show “Hour of Greece,” the Vice President of the Bank of Greece, Olga Gerovassili, referred, among other things, to the following:
Initially responding to a question about her potential candidacy in the upcoming internal party elections, the Vice President of the Bank of Greece spoke about a decision she reached after evaluating the past year and weighing the way and position from which she would continue to be useful to SYRIZA: “I directly answer that at this point, I chose not to enter the contest of persons, assessing that the political stakes are much more important. We have gone through a year of violent attacks from an ‘over-ego’ against ‘us’, with whatever that entails for the structures, values, and functioning of a leftist party. A year of attacks on collective processes, divisions, and the invention of internal enemies, references to coup plotters wearing hoods, etc. Terms that have spread even from people with no relation to the space.”
She then said that the people of SYRIZA showed great tolerance towards Mr. Kasselakis, contrary to what he likes to repeat. “Indeed, at the February congress,” she continued, “I raised the alarm, not with ambitions for the presidential chair, but because I believed I had to send the message that ‘enough is enough,’ seeing the erosion of the party, the departure from its values and political lines, transforming into something else. Of course, thereafter I aligned with the decision and we headed for the European elections, in which I fought hard, and the proof is that SYRIZA in the Arta region had the highest percentage in Greece. Some did pretend not to see this, consciously placing me into a frame of division and internal confrontation, following the logic of constructing internal enemies which the former president accused me of having personal ambitions and goals. Obviously, I have no relation to this myth, nor have I ever chosen for myself the role of internal opposition.”
“There was therefore tolerance towards the person of Kasselakis. We tried, discussed, and debated with the aim of achieving the best possible political relationship. Our disagreements were mainly ideological,” Mrs. Gerovassili clarified.
“At this moment, it is a major issue, of a identificational and even existential nature, how we will reach the internal party elections. By the end of November, the terms of the political game and dialogue within SYRIZA must change. As far as I am concerned, I want to contribute to a change of style and attitude so that we can talk about political issues. It is therefore crucial how the SYRIZA majority (the same one that supported the vote of no confidence, the same one that supported S. Kasselakis until recently) will stand in front of a substantive discussion that we owe to have, without falling into the trap of the few yet noisy supporters of Kasselakis in a fanatical way that often slips into slogans we encounter in extreme right-wing circles.”
Regarding the potential scenarios of Kasselakis prevailing or not in the elections, and his own moves or those of his supporters or dissidents from the former president, O. Gerovassili said that these are issues to be evaluated in the future. “Personally, I do not belong to those who operate divisively. I wish to contribute to the coexistence of all of us based on unity and understanding. However, the fact that this was not achieved during the whole previous period is the responsibility of Kasselakis’s side. He must also answer these questions because he bears the primary responsibility for where we are today.” At this moment, she added, “I believe we must do everything possible to ensure that Mr. Kasselakis is not elected again, and I will join this political battle.”
When asked about the individuals who will run in the internal party elections, O. Gerovassili replied that announcements are expected next week, while she expressed her opinion that it would be good to have one candidate and concluded the topic by emphasizing that “today we are here to move forward with our eyes on the major existential issues.”
Finally, when asked about the future relationship with the New Left, O. Gerovassili replied that “a discussion of this kind has not yet started, and therefore any comment would be premature at this time,” adding that “Our collective decision is that SYRIZA addresses the people from the democratic center to the left. This is how we have walked for some years now, aiming for the cooperation of progressive forces as a solution for the next day in the country. This is our publicly expressed political position, and this is what I serve.”