No single political party better characterizes the political turmoil following the financial crisis than SYRIZA. The self-described “Coalition of the Radical Left” was elected essentially as an anti-austerity group.
In the mid-2010s, Greece’s two dominant political parties, Nea Dimokratia and PASOK, were both rejected due to their willingness to continue to subject the Greek people to the harsh austerity measures that facilitated the destruction of the Greek economy during the financial crisis. SYRIZA swooped in and ran a campaign almost entirely as a rejection of the austerity measures – an anti-EU, left-wing populist party.
The party was embraced by the electorate, which was desperate for change and ready to give the upstart Leftists a chance at governance. SYRIZA won the 2015 snap elections, taking first place and leading Nea Dimokratia 36% to 21%. This unprecedented event marked the pinnacle of political backlash to the financial crisis and the culmination of rising dissatisfaction with the political establishment.
Unfortunately, SYRIZA did not meet the expectations of the electorate. After emerging as a victor in 2015, the party began to decline in popularity due to the handling of the crisis. The continuation of the recession and the negotiations with the Troika soured public opinion towards the party. SYRIZA was soundly defeated by Nea Dimokratia in 2019 and 2023, signaling the end of the political lifespan of the coalition.
The polling in the lead-up to the 2023 elections showed a slight edge for Nea Dimokratia of roughly 6%, which was a huge underestimation. New Democracy won the elections by a massive margin of 20%, reflecting the changing political mood of the country as the financial crisis began to slowly subside.
After the 2023 election, internal divisions within the party began to rise to the surface; changes in political leadership and uncertainty regarding the platform created a sense of uncertainty and low confidence. The election of Greek-American Stephanos Kasselakis to party leadership and his ambition to recreate the party caused a split between the hardline SYRIZA MPs and followers of Kasselakis.
Later, in December 2023, a group of 9 MPs and one MEP formed the party Nea Aristera (New Left), dealing a severe blow to SYRIZA’s popularity. SYRIZA continued to decline in popularity throughout the year, failing to revive the party in the 2024 European Parliament elections. In response to these internal divisions and declining popularity, Kasselakis faced a vote of no confidence and was forced out of office, choosing to form his own party, Kinima Dimokratis (Movement for Democracy), which sent SYRIZA spiraling even further away from political relevance.
Since the party fractured, the platform and direction of the party remain ambiguous. While the original SYRIZA government positioned itself as a big-tent Leftist party, the platform had since transitioned more to the center, before being retaken by the old guard of the party. This ambiguity about the platform of the party is nothing new; the nature of the party as a big-tent movement designed to unite various leftist movements in Greece meant that political disunity and disagreement are baked into the internal politics of the party.
The party has been described as anti-establishment, democratic socialist, and left-wing populist, while also integrating various aspects of Marxist and Leninist thought into their ideology.
Although SYRIZA represented the generation of disaffected victims of the financial crisis, subsequent years of internal power struggles and conflict chipped away at the party’s relevance and political influence. Current polling shows anywhere from a 5-8% voting intention, an abysmal mark when compared to last year’s polling of around 14-16%.
SYRIZA will most likely continue to decline, even if it manages to maintain seats in the Hellenic Parliament in the 2027 parliamentary elections. As SYRIZA continues to decline, parties like PASOK and KKE may regain their positions as the respective Center Left and Left Wing parties of Greece.