To conference and election of president after the self-governing electionswas the position formulated by Pavlos Polakis at the SYRIZA Central Committee meeting. In statements he made afterwards in front of the television cameras he said that “if this is accepted tomorrow Sunday in the vote, then, yes, it is open for me to submit a candidacy for president of the party”. “If we go to a logic and a fast track process and with life style terms that try to impose a series of systemic means, then I have no place in this process.”

In particular, Mr. Polakis stated that with his statement today at the meeting, he clarified his opinion on the course that SYRIZA should follow. “There has to be a period in which we come to terms with the causes we lost in 2023, but I think there hasn’t been a proper assessment of the causes we lost in 2019 and I made a detailed statement at the meeting about that.” He said that “we must go to a conference (after the municipal elections) that will clarify the political and programmatic discourse of SYRIZA for the next period of time as the central force of the ruling left, as the central force and core of the democratic and progressive faction”. He added that “we have to recognize them reasons society has turned its back on us and to formulate a program both at the level of productive reconstruction, as well as changes in justice, in the fight against the entanglement that must be the front line, in the policy of redistribution in favor of work and small and medium enterprises, in the existence of a strong social state”. Such a programmatic framework will constitute SYRIZA’s address to society, he said.

He explained that this is why he proposed to hold a conference immediately after the self-governing elections and that Socrates Famellos may very well represent SYRIZA in the TIF.

“I think that we can go and after the self-governing elections come to an end, and if this is accepted tomorrow in the vote then yes it is open for me to submit a candidacy for party president.” He added that “if we go to a logic and a fast track process and with life style terms that try to impose a series of systemic means, then I have no place in this process”.

Earlier, during his presentation at the closed meeting of the KE, Mr. Polakis had formulated in detail his own positions on the schedule of the presidential election procedures.

Specifically, he stated in his statement that for him “the congress is presented as a one-way streetthe Conference after the self-governing elections, in which all opinions will be presented and collective decisions will be made about the future of the party. It is understood that the Congress will elect a new K.E., a new P.G. and a new Secretary and will launch the process for the election of a new President from the grassroots.” He said that “it is not possible to do the other way around, that is to first elect the person who will lead the party and then decide the political framework that he or she will be called upon to implement and serve.”

Mr. Polakis stated that “if this procedure is followed and of course there is a decision of the conference that includes the axes I developed above, then yes it is open for me to run for President of the party”. Mr. Polakis concluded his speech by stating: “I apologize to the countless executives, members and friends of SYRIZA who, throughout the last period, motivated me to run for office, regardless of the process and in any case. Unfortunately or fortunately, I have not learned to go against my conscience and opinions and that’s why I can’t be a candidate in a fast track process, which I don’t believe will help SYRIZA – PS”.