Athens, Greece – Stefanos Kasselakis, a 35-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader, was elected leader of Syriza on Sunday, sending shockwaves throughout the Greek left with his meteoric rise.
Within a month, he emerged from political obscurity to head Greece’s main opposition group.
Kasselakis threw his hat into the ring at the end of August, posting a four-minute video to this social media channels promising to “build the Greek dream”.
He is seen by some as a breath of fresh air for a party which has struggled to meaningfully challenge Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his ruling right-wing New Democracy party in recent elections.
“Let the right fall!”, “Go ahead and change everything!” Kasselakis’s supporters cheered at the party headquarters in central Athens on Sunday night, giving him a hero’s welcome.
Nikos Pappas, an MP and Syriza heavyweight, said Kasselakis would be rejuvenating, and that he has a “clear mandate” to transform Syriza into a “left-wing, progressive, democratic faction”.
Link from www.aljazeera.com