Dragasakis returns to Parliament to sit as independent MP
Yannis Dragasakis, a former deputy premier under Alexis Tsipras from 2015 to 2019, has returned to Parliament as a replacement for Effie Achtsioglou, who resigned her seat last week.
Achtsioglou, who was elected as a SYRIZA MP in the last general election in 2023, gave up her seat following her departure from the New Left, which split from SYRIZA in the meantime.
As the runner-up on the SYRIZA ballot in that election, Dragasakis was then entitled to the seat.
However, immediately after being sworn in, Dragasakis, as expected, announced that he would sit as an independent MP, and not with SYRIZA.
“I am leaving the SYRIZA parliamentary group and will serve as an independent MP for the left,” the new MP said, adding that he would work for “dialogue and understanding between the forces of the left and the broader progressive space” to create a “credible alternative proposal for progressive governance for the country.”
The number of independents in the chamber remains at an all-time high of 40.
Over the weekend, SYRIZA’s central committee voted to support Tsipras’ new Greek Left Alliance Coalition (ELAS), saying it would be a “strategic mistake … to enter into confrontation” with it.
“We stand alongside this initiative, we support it, and we do not view it as a competitor but as a comrade,” the central committee’s decision stated.
Recent polling suggests that ELAS has overtaken PASOK to become the country’s main opposition force, while support for SYRIZA has fallen sharply, dropping well below the 3% threshold required for parliamentary representation.
Kathimerini
