Former economy minister, deputy prime minister, and SYRIZA founder Yannis Dragasakis declared his departure from the main opposition party on Thursday.

The 76-year-old, who left the leftist party's central committee in December, blasted SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis in a statement for misrepresenting the ideological nature of the group.

“Kasselakis inherited a left-wing party with problems and he is now creating many more problems without a left-wing party, as SYRIZA has entered a process of de-leftification,” he said. 

“SYRIZA, under the current leadership, cannot resolve the issues around its identity, strategy and democratic operation that have plagued the party even prior [to Kasselakis]. It will, for this reason, be caught up in a prolonged crisis,” he said.

Sources close to Mr. Dragasakis, who also advocated for the formation of a new popular left-wing party, indicated that he does not intend to join any rival faction. His decision to resign on Thursday came as a surprise to SYRIZA and to the leadership of New Left, a splinter group within SYRIZA with which Dragasakis has been in contact.

SYRIZA responded with a rather nebulous statement, concluding that “this time Dragasakis did not raise the issue of leadership as he had indicated months ago.”