Yiannis Ragousis, a member of the Political Secretariat of SYRIZA, spoke on the show “Mismatched” on SKAI about the approval of the marriage equality law, the disagreements within his party, his conflict with Nina Kasimati

“I am happy because yesterday our country took a step forward by establishing marriage equality, that is, it abolished an important discrimination against a category of fellow citizens who suffered this discrimination” commented Mr. Ragousis on the godfather’s vote for marriage equality.

Asked about the dissenting SYRIZA MPs, Mr. Ragousis said that “a large part of society does not share this opinion and apparently this opinion is also transferred to the parliament of the parties’ MPs”.

Regarding the dispute that has erupted with the SYRIZA MP, Nina Kasimati and the characterization he attributed to her as a “female Voridis”, Mr. Ragousis said that “unfortunately, I was forced to respond to a vulgar attack that I suddenly received from Mrs. Kasimati only because I formulated a question at the meeting of our highest elected governing body about what we are going to do to Mr. Kasselakis. Suddenly I was faced with a vulgarity which I could not leave unanswered since the moment Ms. Kasimati was one of the MPs who broke the party line yesterday and did not vote in favor of the law. I used exactly the words of Mr. Kasselakis.

When asked if he would attribute the same characterization to Mr. Polakis, Mr. Ragousis replied, “your question is reasonable. Mr. Kasselakis said that those who abstain are “Boridides” and we cannot have a relationship with “Boridides”.

Asked if those who voted against or abstained in yesterday’s vote have a place in SYRIZA, Mr. Ragousis said that “I will answer you when I know what the reaction of the president of SYRIZA is going to be. Based on what he has announced, I believe that there will be a reaction from Mr. Kasselakis.

Mr. Ragousis pointed out, however, that “from this process, all MPs, of all parties, even those who voted in favor, have a political cost in his constituency because a part of the voters does not agree. So when a president gets his MPs to vote for him and he does well, he essentially makes them suffer a political cost. Therefore, there can be no double standards because it is unfair that some have suffered the political cost”.

Responding to the disagreements within SYRIZA and the unity of the party on the way to the congress and the European elections, Mr. Ragousis said “it is a different issue to have legitimate political differences and another to have a question of unity. Yesterday there was a question of unity because yesterday there was a top process for an issue that for SYRIZA is an issue of identity and value. Here there is a violation of principles, values ​​and identity.’