THE Socrates Famous is the new president of SYRIZA, as he gathered from the first Sunday of the process. Mr. Famellos gathered a percentage of 49.41% and although he did not exceed 50% for even one vote, as predicted, he is elected president of SYRIZA, as Pavlos Polakis declared that he will not go down to the second round, while they recognized his dominance and the other two candidates, Nikos Farandouris and Apostolos Gletsos.

“We have a president. There is no need for a second round,” declared Pavlos Polakis and added that “I will be a soldier. Today is a day of joy for SYRIZA, because despite the specific plan to dissolve SYRIZA it failed. The participation of the party members who came to the polls was the best, answered all of them and gave the message that SYRIZA is here.”

The official results:

Famous: 49.41%
Pollakis: 43.51%
Faradouris: 5.09%
Glacier: 1.99%

The participation of citizens in the electoral process SYRIZA it reached 70,152, surpassing the initial forecasts, while an hour extension had to be given for the closing of the polls, in order for several members of the party who had not made it in time to vote.

The election process was carried out without any problems, with Koumundourou executives expressing their satisfaction both for the participation and for the organization.

The who is who of Sokratis Famellos

Sokratis Famellos was elected for the first time as an MP with SYRIZA in January 2015, and almost 10 years later he takes over as the president of the party, in perhaps its most difficult period.

Before being elected MP, Sokratis Famellos was a municipal councilor in Thermi and a founding member of the Coalition of the Left and SYRIZA. He entered the Hellenic Parliament for the first time in January 2015 as an MP for SYRIZA II of Thessaloniki. He was re-elected in September 2015, July 2019 and June 2023. In October 2015 he was appointed Parliamentary Representative of SYRIZA, while in April 2016 he was appointed President of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee to investigate the legality of lending to political parties, as well as to company owners Mass Media from its banking institutions country.

In November 2016 he assumed a ministerial position for the first time, as deputy Minister of Environment and Energy until the elections of July 2019, while in July 2023 he was unanimously elected President of the Parliamentary Group of SYRIZA PS, after the resignation of Tsipras and until August 27, 2024, when and Stefanos Kasselakis replaced him with Nikos Pappa.

He studied chemical engineering with a master’s degree in environmental design. He was born in 1966, and has lived in Thessaloniki since 1970. He is the father of a son, who is doing graduate studies in aerospace with a scholarship at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA, while in 2018 he lost his wife Popi Karagiannidou.

Declarations of the candidates

The first of the candidates for the presidency made statements after the results were announced Apostolos Gletsoswho said: “The cool party and the new president need to do a lot of serious but quick reading. First of all, we are standing, that’s for sure and we are also alive. From now on, the ball is in the president’s court. And many things must be done. United, serious, the next day let’s show that we understood our mistakes, learned from them and move forward.”

A celebration of democracy for SYRIZA was spoken by Nicholas Farandouris in statements he made while arriving in Koumoundourou. He thanked the thousands of members and friends of SYRIZA PS “who rushed to the polls today and refuted those who claimed or had discounted the end of our party”. “It’s a resounding message of flight forward, which we must all take, we must work in this direction,” he said. He thanked the people who supported his candidacy “which from the beginning had only one meaning: to speak about the need for SYRIZA to regain its credibility and prestige, to speak politically, to speak with an eye on the future, to speak with an eye on the youth…” and “to send a message to the entire Greek society that progressive governance is a social and political need for the country and of course it is not elusive dream”. He said that apparently, and pending the final results, Sokratis Famellos will be the next president of SYRIZA and congratulated him “from the bottom of my heart”, adding that he will be by his side in any case in Europe and in Greece. He also congratulated Pavlos Polakis and Apostolos Gletsos “for the battle and the high level of political confrontation”. “Confrontation is at the core of democracy, we are not afraid of it, but we need to constantly inoculate it with positions and arguments, with proposals, for the good of society. We are all rolling up our sleeves from tomorrow,” he emphasized.