A little-known former shipping executive and ex-Goldman Sachs trader on Sunday pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Greek political history after winning the leadership of SYRIZA, the main opposition party.
Stefanos Kasselakis, 35, is a self-styled self-made entrepreneur who says he wants to promote transparency, boost labor and social rights, speed up justice, and eliminate perks for bankers and politicians.
Picking up more than 56 percent of the vote based on preliminary results, he defeated four other candidates — three of them prominent SYRIZA former ministers — after a whirlwind campaign mostly waged on social media.
Photo: AFP
“We want a Greece where you don’t have to hustle to get ahead,” Kasselakis said as his campaign took off this month, vowing to “conquer the Greek Dream” and create a “modern left.”
Kasselakis was born in Athens, but moved to the US at the age of 14 after winning a school scholarship.
His resume says that he holds international studies and economics degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, speaks five languages and worked as a volunteer on then-US senator Joe Biden’s 2008 White House campaign.
He subsequently worked at Goldman Sachs as a commodities trader before becoming chief executive of UK-based shipowners SwiftBulk Holding.
SYRIZA is reeling from successive electoral defeats to the conservative New Democracy party of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
In the last ballot in June, the party sank to less than 18 percent, more than 20 points behind New Democracy and its worst showing in more than a decade.
Long-term SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras stepped down soon afterward.
The rise of Kasselakis, a political novice, is unprecedented in a nation where successful party cadres often have a past in student politics — or are the children of lawmakers and ministers.
His predecessor Tsipras had been a student protest organizer and youth leader who was later picked by the party to run for mayor of Athens.
Blue-eyed, athletic and speaking with a slight American accent, Kasselakis is also the first elected official to openly declare his homosexuality.
The issue remains taboo in a nation still built around the traditional family model, and where the powerful Orthodox Church frowns on same-sex relations.
Kasselakis’ business background is anathema to many SYRIZA cadres, many of whom were in the 2015 SYRIZA government that unsuccessfully battled against the austerity imposed by Greece’s EU-IMF creditors during the nation’s 10-year financial crisis.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS