“I am not a phenomenon; I am the voice of a society. I will never betray you,” Kasselakis told supporters, As Kasselakis is not a legislator, it is probable he will have to designate a party deputy to oversee the Syriza parliamentary group.
The 35-year-old Kasselakis defeated Effie Achtsioglou, a 38-year-old lawmaker and former labour minister, in a runoff contest. Three other candidates had been eliminated in a first round, September 17.
Kasselakis had just on 57% of the votes about 136,000 Greeks turned out to vote, fewer than in the first round to elect a successor to former Prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who stepped down after Syriza was trounced by the conservative New Democracy party in the 2019 elections and again in June, 2023.
A resident of Miami, Kassalakis, who describes himself as a self-made shipping entrepreneur, was unknown to the Greek public until in late August, a few days after presenting a list of proposals for the party, Kasselakis released a video of just over four minutes recounting his life and his vision..
Nineteen days after the video introduced him to the public, Kasselakis led the first round of the leadership contest, with nearly 45% of the votes to Achtsioglou’s 36%.
Despite their youth, Achtsioglou and Kasselakis are older than Tsipras was 15 years ago when he became Syriza leader at age 34, taking advantage of a deep financial crisis. He took the party from around 4% voter support to 35% in 2015.
The new leader of the opposition, aware of his limited knowledge of politics, seems happier doing trips around the country, talking to people, posing for selfies and posting the whole thing on Tik-Tok.
Kasselakis worked for Goldman Sachs and founded a shipping company. Branded by the media as a “distressed asset maestro” who sold all five of the ships the company owned at a handsome profit in 2022.
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