Greece's SYRIZA party has lost three more lawmakers to independent status within hours,, leaving it with just 20 seats in Parliament and dropping it to the fourth-largest parliamentary bloc, behind the Communist Party, as an internal leadership battle intensifies.
Lawmaker Andreas Panagiotopoulos of Achaia announced his departure first, followed within hours by Giorgos Gavrilos of Argolida and then Giorgos Psychogios of Corinthia.
Simeon Kedikoglou is expected to relinquish his seat within days, as he has previously announced; if he follows through, he would become the third SYRIZA lawmaker to surrender his seat outright, following Katerina Notopoulou and Giorgos Karameros.
SYRIZA now holds 20 seats, a steep decline from the 47 it won in the 2023 election with 17.83% of the vote.
The party's parliamentary group is set to convene Wednesday at 1 p.m., where members are expected to elect a new group secretary following Dionysis Kalamatianos's resignation — a move that will formally reinstate Pavlos Polakis to the position.
The session will also mark the first public test of strength between Mr. Polakis and Rena Douru in their competing bids for the party leadership. Election of the parliamentary group's president is expected to follow at a later date, likely next week.
Sources say further defections and resignations are expected in the coming days.
According to iefimerida.gr, eight lawmakers appear certain to remain with the party: Nikos Pappas, Rena Douru, Pavlos Polakis, Giannis Amanatidis, Elena Akrita, Giorgos Papailiou, Christos Giannoulis and Theofilos Xanthopoulos.
In a television interview with Mega, Mr. Polakis argued he is capable of returning SYRIZA to Parliament with a respectable vote share in the next national election, while claiming Ms. Douru cannot achieve the same result.
The party's Central Committee is scheduled to meet Saturday in a session considered pivotal, where members are expected to ratify SYRIZA's new political direction and complete the reorganization of its leadership structure, including the election of a new secretary, deputy secretary, Political Secretariat and Organizational Bureau.