Ex-Goldman Sachs trader stuns Greek politics, wins leadership of Syriza

A little-known former shipping exec and ex-Goldman Sachs trader pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Greek political history after winning the leadership of Syriza, the leftist main opposition party.

Stefanos Kasselakis, 35, is a self-styled self-made entrepreneur who says he wants to promote transparency, boost labour and social rights, speed up justice and eliminate perks for bankers and politicians.

Picking up over 56 percent of the vote on Sunday based on preliminary results, he defeated four other candidates - three of them prominent Syriza former ministers - after a whirlwind campaign mostly waged on social media.

"We want a Greece where you don't have to hustle to get ahead," Kasselakis said as his campaign took off this month, vowing to "conquer the Greek Dream" and create a "modern Left".

Kasselakis was born in Athens but moved to the United States at the age of 14 after winning a school scholarship.

According to his CV, he holds international studies and economics degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, speaks five languages, and worked as a volunteer on then-senator Joe Biden's 2008 White House campaign.

He subsequently worked at Goldman Sachs as a commodities trader before becoming CEO of UK-based shipowners SwiftBulk Holding.

Syriza is reeling from successive electoral defeats to the conservative New Democracy party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

In the last ballot in June, the party sank to less than 18 percent, more than 20 points behind New Democracy and its worst showing in over a decade.

Longterm party leader Alexis Tsipras stepped down soon afterwards.

Party doubts

The rise of Kasselakis, a political novice, is unprecedented in a country where successful party cadres often have a past in student politics - or are the children of lawmakers and ministers.

His predecessor Tsipras had been a student protest organiser and youth leader who was later picked by the party to run for mayor of Athens.

Kasselakis' business background is anathema to many Syriza cadres, many of whom were in the 2015 Syriza government that unsuccessfully battled against the austerity imposed by Greece's EU-IMF creditors during the country's ten-year financial crisis.

Attacks from top Syriza cadres on Kasselakis - who declined a debate and most interviews - have led to speculation that his victory could split the party.

Senior Syriza cadre Nikos Filis this week rejected the "messianism" surrounding Kasselakis' candidacy, arguing that his platform was "outside a left-wing framework".

"We don't know Mr Kasselakis, personally I don't know his intentions for the party," fellow party cadre Yiannis Ragousis told state TV ERT.

The last time this kind of intra-party tension occurred was in 2015 when hardline leftists walked out after Tsipras signed a new austerity bailout with EU-IMF creditors.