Responding to the surprise move with his own surprise, he announced in a letter to the party leadership and PASOK MPs his decision to hand the seat back to the party with which he has been elected since 2009 in Arcadia.
He also announced that he will vote for the new deputy speaker of parliament proposed by PASOK and that he will request to speak before leaving the plenary podium.
Konstantinopoulos on His Decision
Through his associates, Konstantinopoulos told protothema.gr that he decided to return the parliamentary seat to PASOK because “MPs serve the people and the party through which they were elected and must set an example.”
Answering critics who suggest he might be building “bridges” to opposing political forces, he stated: “I will not join any party. I am returning to normal life.”
His message in all directions is that he wants to maintain “a stance of dignity” after his expulsion, that the challenge of overcoming the party’s “immovable needle” rests entirely with PASOK, and that he will not allow “games” to be played at his expense. “I am stepping out of the frame. Let them figure it out. I won’t let them create an enemy narrative,” he said.
“Fearful Leadership”
Konstantinopoulos remains a simple member of PASOK, unless Androulakis decides to sever the long-standing relationship the now-independent MP has had with PASOK since his youth. Some do not rule out that Androulakis might even refer the matter to the Ethics Committee, seeking to suspend Konstantinopoulos’s party membership before the party Congress.
In his first statement after expulsion, Konstantinopoulos emphasized that he has been in PASOK for 20 years and remained during the party’s difficult years, attributing Androulakis’s decision to his unwillingness to face the truth, no matter how harsh.
“Expulsion is the last refuge of a fearful leadership. After 20 years of consistent service in PASOK and being among the few who stayed during the party’s toughest years, Mr. Androulakis expelled me because I spoke the truth: what everyone knows and he refuses to acknowledge,” Konstantinopoulos said, labeling Androulakis as fearful.
Top PASOK officials are weighing their response (in terms of timing), but it is certain that after the initial shock they will react to Androulakis’s move, attempting from the start to break the precedent of expelling any member who simply expresses differing opinions.
Hours before Konstantinopoulos’s interview, Haris Doukas and Anna Diamantopoulou had already expressed disagreement with the expansion model followed by Skandalidis, who later responded to their criticisms.
“Those who left or attacked PASOK during moments when the party tried to save the country often crossed the lines of political ethics and dissent. Ignoring these lines, expansion may produce the opposite results,” Diamantopoulou noted in a post, while Doukas spoke of “jumble expansions.”
Androulakis and Konstantinopoulos had a close political friendship, with the Arcadian politician championing Androulakis’s election to party leadership in 2021. He also led the post-2024 effort to “relaunch PASOK” after the European elections, supporting Haris Doukas for the party leadership. Some presidential guard members suggest that ministers’ congratulations to Konstantinopoulos reveal much and imply that he may play a role in New Democracy’s expansion.
Accusations Against Him
Those who spoke with Konstantinopoulos last night dismiss these as “ridiculous,” noting that while he was not serving as deputy speaker in parliament, he remained in Arcadia, maintaining his connection with PASOK voters. Some claim recent polls showed him far ahead and reject the claim that he opposed Androulakis from 2023 because he placed a key rival, Vangelis Giannakouras, on the ballot.
PASOK phones rang immediately after Konstantinopoulos’s expulsion, as he maintains a communication network with PASOK officials across Greece. The news reportedly shocked many party “tribes,” while only the hardliners at Charilaou Trikoupi, who had long advocated “President, take heads,” welcomed Androulakis’s decision to expel Konstantinopoulos from the Parliamentary Group.
It is noteworthy that top officials exchanged views last night, unusually, especially after internal elections. PASOK MPs privately expressed disagreement with the leadership’s move, noting that “while the party brings in former critics, it expels its own people.”
Sources at Charilaou Trikoupi criticized Konstantinopoulos for giving a 20-minute interview without mentioning PASOK’s work or parliamentary initiatives, or criticizing New Democracy, accusing him of undermining the party. He was accused of attacking Spanish Prime Minister P. Sánchez, aligning with New Democracy’s line to obscure PASOK’s message, and receiving public praise from Giorgiadis.
They also claim that he failed to highlight the party president’s activities and that “the conscious goal of this interview was to oppose his party for 20 minutes and shift the agenda, so that instead of the government being held accountable, we discuss PASOK’s artificial introspection.”
It is clear that Konstantinopoulos was under scrutiny for some time, with party sources ready to comment on every move. “Lately, every public appearance was used solely to undermine PASOK, not to defend or communicate the party’s positions, programs, or political goals,” they said.
Notably, in the pre-congress period, Charilaou Trikoupi sources also criticized him for “staying on the back pages of internal party processes.” Konstantinopoulos, however, asserts that during pre-congress periods, members can present their views, which he did at every opportunity, including in writing to the parliamentary group leadership.
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