Stefanos Kasselakis

Stefanos Kasselakis
Stefanos Kasselakis
Στέφανος Κασσελάκης
	Kasselakis in 2023
President of Syriza
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 24 September 2023
Preceded by	Alexis Tsipras
Personal details
Born	29 March 1988 (age 36); Marousi, Greece
Political party	Syriza (2023–present)
Other political; affiliations	Republican Party (U.S.) (2013–2019)
Spouse	Tyler McBeth (m. 2023)
Education	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation	Businessman; Politician;

Stefanos Kasselakis (Greek: Στέφανος Κασσελάκης; born 29 March 1988^[2]) is a Greek businessman, entrepreneur and politician, who is currently serving as the leader of Syriza.^[3]

Kasselakis spent a considerable portion of his life residing in the US, where he worked in the banking and shipping sectors and contributed as a writer for the National Herald. He was registered as a Republican, supported Kyriakos Mitsotakis and endorsed his candidacy for party leader in 2015. He was an MP candidate with SYRIZA in the May and June 2023 Greek parliamentary elections. In the 2023 Syriza leadership election, he secured a surprising victory over Effie Achtsioglou. However, a few months after his win, Syriza underwent a division, resulting in the departure of 11 Members of Parliament (MPs) and three Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who exited the party in protest of Kasselakis' ideology and practices.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Early life and education

Kasselakis was born in Marousi in 1988.^[2] His family is originally from the village of Skines in Chania.^[8] He grew up in Ekali and attended Athens College.^[9] He received a scholarship to attend the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, US,^[10] and later graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania,^[10]^[11]^[12] and a B.Sc in finance from the Wharton School of the same institution.^[10]^[11] While he was a student he volunteered for Joe Biden's campaign during the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries.^[2]

In 2009, he worked at the back-office "risk management department" of Goldman Sachs.^[12]^[13] He also worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. and later founded Swift Bulk shipping company.^[12]^[14]

Politics

For many years Kasselakis worked a columnist for The National Herald, writing "The undergraduate's column" and later on "The Colour of the Market".^[15] Using the pen name "Aristotelis Oikonomou", he advocated in 2007 the adoption of supply-side reforms aligned with Reaganomics and New Democracy's reform allowing the opening of private universities in Greece. In 2012, during the Greek economic crisis, he criticized the number of public sector layoffs handled by then-minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as very low and supported the reduction of the minimum wage.^[16] In September 2015 he criticized then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras, comparing him with Donald Trump and writing that he lacks sufficient experience. He also criticized him for appointing Yannis Varoufakis as finance minister.^[17]^[18]

In 2023, Kasselakis stated that from 2012 he "had developed an excellent rapport with Kyriakos Mitsotakis" and that he "penned an endorsement for him in the National Herald while he was competing for the party leadership" and still has "a lot of respect for him personally".^[19]^[20] He later justified his stance, saying that he had supported Mitsotakis because he had some progressive ideas and because he was running against Adonis Georgiadis.^[21] In his National Herald editorial, published three days after the first round of ND party leadership elections and posted on Mitsotakis's Facebook page, Kasselakis made no reference to Georgiadis, criticized Vangelis Meimarakis and Alexis Tsipras and unhesitatingly endorsed Mitsotakis's candidacy.^[22]^[23]

He was a candidate for MP placed on the (non-electable) 9th place of Syriza's 15 member nation-wide list, representing Greeks living abroad, in the legislative election of both May and June 2023.^[24]^[25]

Syriza leadership

On 29 August 2023, Kasselakis declared his candidacy for the leadership of Syriza.^[26] In the first round of party elections on 17 September, he finished in first place among five candidates while securing 45% of the vote.^[27] On 24 September 2023 he was elected new leader of Syriza, winning the second round with 56% of the vote over his opponent, Effie Achtsioglou, who received 44%.^[3] After winning the election, Kasselakis expressed the desire to emulate the U.S. Democratic Party and move to the centre-left^[28] arguing that Syriza must represent the patriotic left.^[29]

From the beginning of his tenure, Kasselakis' leadership has faced extensive criticism, particularly from left-leaning factions within Syriza, notably the Umbrella group led by former Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos.^[30] In November 2023, amidst significant internal unrest and persistent disagreements, several Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) publicly announced their departure from the party, expressing open criticism of Kasselakis. He has been accused of "right-wing populism" and authoritarian practices during his time leading Syriza.^[7]^[31] The factional disputes primarily stemmed from ideological differences and divergent perspectives on party management skills.^[32]

On 23 November 2023, a significant development occurred as nine MPs, one MEP, and 57 central committee members declared their departure from Syriza in protest of Kasselakis' leadership.^[6] Notable figures among them included Effi Achtsioglou along with other former ministers. Additionally, on 4 December, previously resigned MPs Euclid Tsakalotos and Peti Perka joined forces with the nine MPs to announce the establishment of a new political entity called "New Left" (Nea Aristera).^[33] In response, Kasselakis strongly criticized the newly formed party, urging the departing MPs to relinquish their positions to facilitate the appointment of replacement MPs.^[34]

Journalists and politicians have proclaimed this series of resignations as the end of Syriza in its present form, attributing it to a schism initiated by Kasselakis in his role as the new party leader. This is largely attributed to his ideological ambiguity and questionable practices.^[5]^[35]^[36]^[32]^[4]

On 15 March 2024, Kasselakis temporarily suspended his political activities to undertake his mandatory military service for about three weeks at an artillery training camp near Thebes.^[37]

Kasselakis is the first openly gay leader of a major political party in Greece, and supported the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country by the Hellenic Parliament in February 2024.^[37]

On 9 June 2024 he led Syriza in the 2024 EU elections suffering a nearly 40% decline in his party's vote share from the 2019 elections, many considered the outcome to be a defeat for Syriza. The party failed to win in any region of the country, including Chania, home of Kasselakis.^[38]

Cancelled leadership contest

Amidst political turmoil and disagreements regarding Kasselakis' approaches and agenda, MPs and members of the central committee of Syriza initiated a rebellion against Kasselakis' decision to conduct a survey^[39] asking the party's voters whether Syriza should alter its name and ideological focus.^[40] This action led to a proposal by the central committee to hold the second leadership contest within a year,^[41] asserting that Kasselakis' positions needed to be contested. Olga Gerovasili emerged as a potential candidate,^[42] while former prime minister Alexis Tsipras issued a statement openly criticizing Stefanos Kasselakis.^[43] The leadership contest was abandoned a few days later, after Gerovasili announced that she was unwilling to run.^[44]

Affiliation with the US Republican Party

In October 2023, controversy erupted when the Greek newspaper Estia published an article claiming that New York voter records indicated that Kasselakis was a registered member of the conservative Republican Party in the US. Kasselakis vehemently denied the allegations, characterizing the newspaper as "far-right guns" and asserted that the entire story was fabricated.^[45] A later article stated that Kasselakis appeared in online searchable New York voter lists as a Republican from 2013 to 2019.^[46]

Personal life

Kasselakis lived in Miami until early 2023.^[47] He is openly gay^[2]^[48]^[49] and has been married to Tyler McBeth since 2023.^[50] He is an Orthodox Christian.^[51]