SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis has removed a journalist and TV panelist from the party’s list of candidates for the European elections after controversial statements regarding abused women. The removal came after an uproar not only by the society but also from other candidates and SYRIZa members.
Candidate Dimitris Papanotas, a panelist in a morning show on Alpha TV came under fire also by SYRIZA members, when he recently said on TV:
“I don’t see that women in Greece and the EU in general have a problem, unless they want to have one. If she gets a controlling type who abuses her too, and she doesn’t talk about it, and she sits there and tolerates it, it is her problem.”
His statements were condemned not only by social media users and other political parties, including ruling New Democracy, but also by SYRIZA members including two prominent candidates on the party’s EU elections list.
Former Olympic Games champion and initiator of the ‘Me Too’ movement in Greece, Sofia Bekatorou, threatened to withdraw from the party’s candidates lisτ.
Sharp criticism urging for decisions came also from another female candidate, Dora Tsampazi.
For Kasselakis there was only one way out.
“It is with regret that I am forced to exclude Dimitris Papanotas from the European ballot. I know that he issued a statement correcting his views, but the matter he referred to is highly sensitive and is not up for discussion, especially for a party that puts human rights and equality to the fore,” Kasselakis wrote on a post on social media.
Σέβομαι απόλυτα τις αποφάσεις των μελών και φίλων του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ που -για πρώτη φορά, με δική μου δέσμευση- επέλεξαν οι ίδιοι τους υποψήφιους ευρωβουλευτές μας. Όμως υπάρχουν περιπτώσεις που ο Πρόεδρος πρέπει να παρέμβει για να μη «φορτώσει» ευθύνες αλλού νίπτοντας τας χείρας του.…
— Stefanos Kasselakis – Στέφανος Κασσελάκης (@skasselakis) April 18, 2024
Papanotas reacted to his removal claiming that his statements were a product of “cutting and tailoring”, however, he did not clarify what was “cut out.”
He described his expulsion as an insult not only to him but also “to those party supporters who voted for him in the primaries.”
Kasselakis will present his party’s list of candidates on Friday evening.
