Stefanos Kasselakis, the 35-year-old businessman, the political outsider who hopes to revive the Greek left, came out of nowhere to win the first round of elections for the leadership of Syriza, writes the Guardian.

He is rich, handsome, openly gay, a former Goldman Sachs executive, and a shipowner.

Four weeks ago, few in Athens had heard of Stefanos Kasselakis. But as the Greek-American businessman showed everyone, one month is a long time in politics.

Since unexpectedly announcing his candidacy in the race to lead SYRIZA, Greece’s main opposition party, the 35-year-old outsider has been in politics in ways few could have imagined. What might once have seemed outlandish, an American businessman vying for the leadership of a radical party, suddenly seems very real.

Before the polls open for Sunday’s second round, many are wondering whether Kasselakis, who won more votes than his fellow candidates in the first round last week, can now do the unthinkable and beat Efi Ahtsioglou, a successful former minister of Labor, the only female candidate and, until recently, the favourite. If he does, it will be, says Kasselakis, a first step towards the defeat of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, since, as he claims, he has “better knowledge in English, finance and business”.

In the first round, the businessman who prefers jeans and T-shirts, won 45% to Ahtsioglu’s 36%, a difference of 12,864 votes.

Left-wing writer Dimitris Psarras said many members of the one-time alliance of Marxist-Leninists, ex-communists, environmentalists and social democrats fear the outcome.

“It’s like Netflix came in, took over the party and now they’re turning it into a series,” Psarras told the Guardian. “People have no idea what his politics are or if he has an agenda. Of course, he’s in shock.”
In an op-ed in July, the businessman, who moved to Massachusetts as a teenager, called his decision to get involved in Greek politics “a short break between two chapters in my business career.” His break came when Tsipras gave him the honor of being a candidate on Syriza’s state ballot in April.

“Fortunately, given the nature of my shipping business over the past six years, I have been able to reconnect with Greece … and have been able to form my own views on the changes the country needs,” he wrote. “If the intention is to govern again, SYRIZA should simply copy the US formula as soon as possible and categorically embrace the political center as well.”

Among the political priorities proposed by the businessman were “drastic” tax breaks for private and public sector employees, separation of church and state, judicial reforms, citizenship for children of immigrants born and raised in Greece and legalization of same-sex marriage. But his failure to produce a detailed program has been criticized as indicative of an approach that is both opaque and blanket.