Political Career
After the departure of the Communist Party of Greece from Synaspismos, Tsipras remained in the party. He was the first person ever to hold the leading position (political secretary) of the youth wing of Synaspismos Neolaia Syn, from May 1999 to November 2003, and was suceeeded by Tasos Koronakis. Despite the very clear radical, left-wing profile that he has maintained as leader of Synaspismos, he was centrist during his period of leadership in Neolaia Syn. He managed quite efficiently to maintain a strong adherence to the policy of the party, effectively outvoicing political deviants to the left and the right. As secretary of the Synaspismos Youth he took active part in the process of creation of the Greek Social Forum and attended all the international protests and marches against neoliberal globalization. In December 2004, at the 4th Congress of Synaspismos, he was elected a member of the party's Central Political Committee and consequently to the Political Secretariat, where he was responsible for educational and youth issues.
Tsipras first entered the limelight of mainstream Greek politics during the 2006 local election when he ran for the municipality of Athens under the "Anoihti Poli" (Greek: Ανοιχτή Πόλη, "Open City") SYRIZA ticket that gained 10.51% of the Athenian vote. He did not run for membership to the Hellenic parliament (Vouli) in the 2007 legislative election, choosing to continue to serve his term as a member of the municipal council of Athens.
He was elected chairman of Synaspismos during the fifth party congress on 10 February 2008, after the previous chairman, Alekos Alavanos, decided not to apply for a renewal of his chairmanship due to personal reasons. When he was elected president of Synaspismos he was 33, thus becoming the youngest ever head of a Greek parliamentary political party.
In the 2009 Greek legislative election he was elected a member of the Hellenic parliament for the Athens A' constituency and was voted unanimously, by the secretariat of the SYRIZA, as the head of its parliamentary group.
Read more about this topic: Alexis Tsipras
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