MP Evangelos Apostolakis announced on Thursday evening that he is leaving SYRIZA parliamentary group and will remain independent.
Apostolakis, who had recently aligned himself with Stefanos Kasselakis, adopted criticisms against SYRIZA in his statement.
He was elected on a list prepared by the party and not on voters’ cross and therefore SYRIZA has urged him to return his seat.
Former SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has reportedly had a phone talk with Apostolakis telling him that “when an appointed MP disagrees with the party that elected him, he resigns, leaving the seat that neither politically nor morally belongs to him.”
67-year-old Apostolakis is a retire Naval officer who served as Chief of the Greek General Staff and later as Defense Minister in Tsipras’ government.
His resignation comes a day after the one of MP Yiannis Sarakiotis.
SYRIZA elected 47 MPs in the summer 2023 elections, now it has 27. It is unclear whether more lawmakers consider to resign.
