By Antonis Anzoletou

“Fire” was the second round for the new leadership of SYRIZA with Stefanos Kasselakis making the upset and defeating Efi Ahtsioglou by a very good margin.

THE Stefanos Kasselakis he arrived in Koumoundourou with many current and former MPs by his side.

Evangelos Apostolakis, Petros Pappas, Theodora Tzakri, Dora Avgeri, Christos Byalas, Dimitris Vettas, Panagiotis Kouroumplis, Anna Vagena they accompanied him and after first visiting the electoral committee on the sixth floor he declared that “the first step has been taken so that the country will soon have a progressive government”. He even sent out a call for participation in the second electoral round.

If there are no big upheavals in the remaining week, the nine point difference he has with Efi Ahtsioglou seems to be enough to elect a new president of SYRIZA. And all this having done a very short election campaign in contrast to his four co-candidates.

The new members who were at the polls yesterday seem to have supported him and everything shows that the people’s disappointment with the old party officials due to the very bad results of the summer remains. With a percentage of just over 45%, the people of SYRIZA showed that they want the renewal of the executive staff.

His “white criminal record” seems to have given him that air that surprised many last night in Koumoundourou. The support he had from him played an important role Pavlos Polakis especially in Crete.

Executives of Koumoundourou yesterday spoke more about the defeat of his opponents than about his own victory.

THE Efi Ahtsioglou garnering just over 36% she remains active in the succession race. In Koumoundourou she was accompanied by Nasos IliopoulosThe Alexis Haritsis and Kostas Barkas. Her first statement showed her going straight to “hard rock” against her opponent.

“Next Sunday will be decisive. He will determine whether the struggles ahead of us will be given to him on political terms or not. And I am talking about the struggles in the real field, in Parliament and in society. If we will give them in terms of seriousness, experience and responsibility. SYRIZA Progressive Alliance, the official opposition of the country, cannot walk in the murky waters of easy solutions”, he pointed out. There is no time to waste and this is the strategy that her staff has decided to follow. It is clear that Mrs. Ahtsioglou’s side will insist a lot on the fact that Stefanos Kasselakis is not an MP.

The term of the government has just started and essentially, if the 35-year-old businessman takes the helm of the party, SYRIZA will be called upon to spend four years without its president in the Parliament. It goes without saying that in the event of Mr. Kasselakis’ victory, the position of head of the parliamentary group is one of the issues that will be on the table.

“Key” in the succession battle will be the attitude of Nikos Pappa. “Our party comes out stronger from this process,” he said, adding that it is a proof that we need to move quickly to transform into a left-wing progressive party.

Despite the fact that the former Minister of Digital Policy did not answer the question of who he will support in the second round, the emphasis on the need to transform the party into a left-wing progressive faction is interpreted as a sign of support for Stefanos Kasselakis. With 8.7% of the votes he is the regulator at the moment of the repeat round and the contacts and statements that will be made in the coming days are expected with great interest.

Even Euclid Tsakalotos was not completely clear about how he will move, however no one doubts the support he and his voters will give to Efi Ahtsioglou. It has also secured a computable rate of over 8%. Criticizing Mr. Kasselakis, he said that “we made a very important deposit. However, I am forced to say that metapolitics, i.e. the emphasis on face and image have penetrated even where one does not expect it, against the substance of politics.’ He added that “there will be the same persistence for the Left and the essence of politics”.

Clearly in Koumoundourou they interpret the very large participation of the approximately 147,000 citizens who voted as a resounding message to the government about its failures. Even the greater participation in cities of Thessaly, where there were fewer electoral divisions, is a political reflection of the disapproval of the first days of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ second term in the Maximos Palace.

The leader will have the legitimacy he desires since the bar has been raised too high. The prefectural committees had put him at about 60,000 and fell out completely. Yesterday two extensions had to be granted and many new ballots printed to meet the needs of the people.

For next Sunday there is no doubt that the look of the two contenders for the leadership, especially her Efis Ahtsioglouthey will turn to the party members who did not come to vote.

The 1.28% of Stefanos Tzoumakas, which translates into 1,845 voters, should not come out of the equation.