SYRIZA elections: To whom did Alexis Tsipras finally send the ‘bill’?

By Niki Zorba

“The turnout is over 150 thousand, 172,000 the new members, SYRIZA is another party tonight, my responsibility is heavy, personal bet, I completed the order I received from the ballot box of the national elections”.

Phrases- “keys” from last night’s statement of Alexis Tsipras outside the offices of Koumoundourou, where the atmosphere was festive:

What bet did the president of SYRIZA really win, as the only candidate in this internal party process? Obviously not that he won … himself. Elsewhere was the stress, elsewhere the risk he took, from the beginning.

Alexis Tsipras did not play without an opponent precisely despite the fact that there was no other candidacy for leadership. If he did, the political readings and conclusions might have been easier for him and his party. At least he would not have to face the irony of political opponents for the sake of his re-election.

The bet for the president of SYRIZA, of course, was not to be re-elected. The relevant rumors are reasonable, even for the percentage with which he was elected: Koumoundourou gave more than 99% last night – without directly explaining the “back lines” of the leak: How there was no “line” for whites from the internal opposition and those who disagree with the process or if there was a “scan” from the -out of control -participation.

Alexis Tsipras’s real bet was to validate in the “big” stadium, what he achieved a few weeks ago, in the “small”, that of his conference: The his overwhelming domination in the SYRIZA partywithout “divisions” for the sake of internal party balances and calm.

Did he succeed? As the first numbers show, absolutely. Until the conference, SYRIZA had about 60,000 members. At the end of yesterday’s process, it showed 172,000. He himself insisted on the numbers: More than 110,000 new party members. Commonly, those who went to the polls of SYRIZA to support him, in a process of purely symbolic use and empowerment of the same.

The “bill” that Mr. Tsipras asked to be sent through the SYRIZA elections to Maximos, was in fact addressed to the party itself: The “old” SYRIZA before its transformation by the former prime minister.

The 110,000 new member registrations were personal votes of the president. No special analysis is needed on this. Just one element is enough whoever became a member of SYRIZA after March 21, had no right to participate at the Central Committee ballot box. The one for which the minority fought, in order to record a good performance in order to increase its representation in the new composition of the higher party body.

It is curious that yesterday’s process was not read – and so – by SYRIZA’s political opponents. As a clarification of the internal party landscape for the party and as a demonstration of power of Alexis Tsipras in the “all old SYRIZA”.

Mr. Tsipras’s hands are now untied on how he will move inside and what he will do with his party.

Whether he will be able to really “send” the bill to Maximos, that is, to win the prime minister in real and not symbolic battles, is another story and not at all simple. After three years in power, Kyriakos Mitsotakis remains in power and the main opposition party, almost helpless in the polls.