“I estimate that it is possible to gather 10 MPs in his new party Stefanou Kasselakis»the independent MP pointed out Iota Poulosspeaking to ERTNews, announcing that it is most likely that she will end up in this political formation herself.

Her statements come in the wake of her independence from SYRIZA but also after the change of relations in the Parliament, which led to SYRIZA – PS losing the position of official opposition.

It is recalled that Mr. Kasselakis will present the founding declaration of the new party on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 12:00 p.m., at the Michalis Kakogiannis Foundation, while he has invited the members to vote for new name at todikomaskinima.gr.

Asked what ultimately led her to become independent, she said:

“I was saying that I would give all my strength so that the conference would take place, that there would be no exclusions and that I would be the last to close the door on SYRIZA, but fighting for the unity of the party.

So what happened next? A conference took place – a travesty, A conference that, in addition to the exclusions of nominations – and I am also referring to Stefanos Kasselakis – what my ethics could no longer withstand is the exclusion of the conferences.

Because obviously you all realize and you, all of us, that the next day you should be able to look into the eyes of the delegates, the Boeotians in this case, where out of the 34 delegates only four managed to enter the conference rooms. And I say in the halls because they did not enter the main hall. They entered the side rooms, the ones that had no contact at all. Neither can they speak, but neither can they vote. So I was out with them.

I could not fathom that as a Member of Parliament – which I remind you did not even have an accreditation card – that I would be inside the conference venue when the representatives of the party’s base members were outside and waiting for hours.

And you know something? We all realized that something went wrong with the conference, that there were problems, that there was discrimination, that there was fraud. On the matter of representation, however, I did not hear an apology the next day.

That is, I would expect – and there were other colleagues who said this – that the next day everyone thought that they did everything well, perfectly, that nothing happened, that they isolated the enemies of the party, and in fact I would not be able to include myself in the hooligans who were outside the conference and obstructed the conference, its operation or its commencement. So that’s what I was expecting, if nothing else. An apology from the party organs, the collective organs of the party. Instead, they were already happy that they had succeeded perfectly (…)

Voters in the national elections did not vote for a party that does not respect the constitution, that operates undemocratically. That finally its great advantage, the rights, freedom, democracy, were violated by the collective bodies. They certainly didn’t vote for them in 2019, 2015, or 2023.

So then, I would have to choose between my own moral principles. I had said that I had not hidden my criticism towards everything that happened at the congress and I had said that I wanted some time so that I could talk with the people and the party (…)

Do you know what is happening in Boeotia? 80 – 90% of the membership base has left. How can I stand in this party? I disagree with you that it is the 5th-6th place that deprived the official opposition from the SYRIZA party (…) I am not smiling at this decision, because what concerns me is the collapse of SYRIZA, not the role of the official opposition , but his collapse within society”.

Regarding her participation in the new party of Stefanos Kasselakis, she emphasized:

“I also have to answer this dilemma. I participate and shape or stay and watch and decide. I guess I’m a man of action. I’ll probably end up with the first one (…)

There is a chant that says “ahead I don’t know what I’ll find, but I’m not turning back”. So it is better to go into the unknown and with our participation to turn in one direction. Better to act, then, than to do nothing (…) Any new venture has great difficulties (…) I estimate that it is possible to gather ten deputies in the new party”.

While he also added:

“I would be in the party with any choice of president. In my political life I have operated with democratic centralism for too many years, which means that I have always respected the opinion of the majority, but finally in this space the opinion of the minority was also respected.

So I think that those who have defected from the principles of the party are the comrades who are currently in the minority with a temporary majority in the collective bodies (…)

I do not appreciate that the story in SYRIZA of all that is taking place stops here. Unfortunately, I believe that in the next fortnight we will again have more departures, and other shocks (…)

I would accept any President and I would serve the unity of the party. That’s not why I left.

I did not leave the Parliamentary Group at this time, because I did not like the President (…)

When I denounce anti-democratic anti-institutional procedures in a conference, when I denounce fraud, I cannot the next day work with certain comrades. It is a completely political and moral issue. It’s not because I didn’t like the party president and I left without political controversy. It is completely different (…)

Literally, the base will decide on the name of the new party (…)

When you have really suffered and been tormented by a process of a mechanism for too long, you have the right to respond by choosing the timing to file an independence or a proposal. It may not be a coincidence, at least from my side (…)

I reckon that there will be independences next week and in the following days as well. For me, each withdrawal has the same weight and the same value – and all of them together deprive the official opposition”.