Stefanos Kasselakis Wants To Be Greece’s First Gay Prime Minister – He’d Have Our Vote!
On Sunday, September 24, Greek-American businessman Stefanos Kasselakis won the election to become leader of the Syriza Party in Greece. He is the first openly gay leader of a political party in Greece and has his eyes set on the Prime Ministership.
“The Light Won…”
The 35-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader has little to no political history to speak of, yet his campaign to win over the people of Greece has been successful. It was in August of this year that Kasselakis emerged from obscurity to announce his run for leader of Syriza – Greece’s oppositional party.
The video above shows Kasselakis’ announcement for his run. In the video, he speaks about the Greek dream and rebuilding the nation to be one of equality and opportunity. The win that came from his campaign shows how sentiments towards the current Prime Minister have begun to turn.
According to Al Jazeera, the current centre-right Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, hasn’t been faced with significant opposition in recent elections. Kasselakis’ intention to run for leadership is supported by his party.
Kasselakis is married to American-born partner Tyler McBeth, and he has mentioned that if he wins the next general election, he will legalise same-sex marriage in Greece. Other major platforms Kasselakis ran on include increasing public spending on education, replacing mandatory military service with a professional army, separating church and state, and championing queer rights.
On the Sunday when it was announced he had won leadership of Syriza, Kasselakis gave a speech thanking his supporters and calling for an end to right-wing politics. “The light won,” he says. “I am not a phenomenon. I am the voice of society. I’m never going to betray you.”
