Former minister and longtime Thessaloniki MP Haris Kastanidis has resigned from the main opposition PASOK, issuing a strongly worded letter accusing party leader Nikos Androulakis of sidelining him and reshaping the party to exclude him from political life.
In his resignation letter, Kastanidis said he was leaving “the PASOK of Mr Androulakis” but not the party’s founding ideological principles. “I do not resign from PASOK of democratic socialist ideas. I resign from Mr Androulakis’ party,” he wrote.
He accused the leadership of systematically obstructing his political activity, including excluding him from parliamentary representation in Thessaloniki after the 2023 elections and pressuring party organizations not to invite him to speak at events.
The 70-year-old, first elected to parliament in 1981, also criticized a recent party statute change introducing term limits for lawmakers with retroactive effect, saying it was designed specifically to block his candidacy. He accused Androulakis of double standards, noting that the rule exempts former PASOK leaders who have served more than 20 years in parliament.
He further described Androulakis’ public argument that long parliamentary tenure fosters clientelism as “offensive, ahistorical and self-serving,” suggesting it was politically motivated.
“Dignity must respond when impropriety is repeated,” Kastanidis wrote, closing his letter with a quote attributed to French writer Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand: “The less significant those in power are, the more they delight in being petty.”
He said he remains proud of his political record, citing his role in drafting legislation establishing Greece’s ombudsman, creating an anti-money laundering authority, and advancing anti-corruption laws during his tenure as justice minister.