Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras today wrote the end of his parliamentary career as a member of Syriza – Progressive Alliance, deciding to give up his parliamentary seat, closing the chapter of his career in the party that led him to power.

Surprising even his very close associates, as well as Syriza MPs, some of whom he informed by phone this morning, Alexis Tsipras sent his resignation letter to the Speaker of Parliament shortly before the new parliamentary term officially began, in order to clarify his stance, something that many of SYRIZA’s executives, both in the public sphere and mainly behind the scenes, even influential people, urgently asked him to do.

Absolute entrapment

It is no coincidence that Tsipras intervened twice in the last few hours from Sorbonne and while the Central Committee of SYRIZA was meeting, having been preceded by a series of statements by executives in the previous period asking him to clarify his position towards the party, due to rumours of a new party. The fact, moreover, that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had meaningfully recalled in an interview that Alexis Tsipras was“a SYRIZA Piraeus MP” vividly illustrated the “absolute enclosure”, as experienced party executives commented, underlining the moral dimension of the former Prime Minister’s choice towards people with whom he had been working with for years. The highlight was the press conference of Socrates Famellos at this year’s TIF, which demonstrated the full extent of the internal party embarrassment in the face of the possibility of a new step by Alexis Tsipras.

“Liberation” and contacts

The moral part of the matter is something that reportedly counted in the decision of Alexis Tsipras, who is now freed to organize his new party without having to walk the tightrope between SYRIZA and the new format. Especially, when the information speaks of a long cycle of tours around Greece on the occasion of the presentation of his new book. In any case, Alexis Tsipras will be present electorally in the next national elections, while at the same time he is proceeding with the staffing of his institute with a view to the first half of 2026.

In the first half of 2019, the first half of his term will be devoted to the first term of his term

One of the reasons, moreover, that led him to resign is the fact that until now it has been impossible for him to make successive contacts with persons from social and political life who wished to meet him, as any appointment could be considered misunderstood, if not forbidden, due to his party and parliamentary status as a Koumoundourou official. It is no coincidence that local elected officials and trade unionists from all over the country sought to meet him, most of the time to no avail.

Going to the polls

As for the political personnel in the electoral scheme, this will to some extent emerge from SYRIZA’s existing political staff, as“there is no parthenogenesis in politics”, several officials said. At the same time, however, with his institute at the center, there will be new faces of technocratic profile that will accompany him, along with new colleagues and trusted faces from previous years, grafting ages and schools of political thought.

In this context, Mr. Tsipras said in his statement today that he is resigning because“I cannot and I do not want to formally participate in a Parliament, which is democratically stripped, mainly by the majority, is unable to perform the role that the Constitution requires and the citizens demand”, as he said, declaring at the same time fully active, since “but I am resigning as a deputy of SYRIZA, I am not resigning from political action, as he disclosed.

New People’s Movement

At the same time, he responded to accusations of using parliamentary privileges, claiming that “I am giving up the security of the mountainous seats. And I aspire to return to the hopeful insecurity of social action.” “Not to lead from above, but to better listen to society and its needs”as he noted, in essence announcing the creation of a new popular movement, starting with the tours for the presentation of his book.

“I do not believe in Messiahs, nor in partisan workshop constructions. But I do believe in the power of the popular movement that collectively fights for social justice,” he explained, without excluding from the new movement his former comrades in SYRIZA.

Prosely to SYRIZA

“I want to address my comrades, all those who have marched together to this point and shared our struggles, anxieties, hopes and dreams. We will not be rivals. And maybe soon we will sail together again to more beautiful seas,” concluded Tsipras, giving a rendezvous in the pages of his book.