Quest for new leader of Greek opposition Syriza intensifies as runoff begins

Stefanos Kasselakis, the candidate for the presidency of Syriza, casts his vote at a polling station in Athens, Greece, 24 September 2023. Photograph: Alexandros Vlachos/EPA

The unexpectedly electric quest to elect a new leader of Greece’s main opposition party, the leftwing Syriza, has intensified as a runoff poll gets under way.

Voters began casting ballots at more than 500 polling stations nationwide in a race that has pitted a party cadre and former labour minister, Efi Achtsioglou, against a Greek American entrepreneur, Stefanos Kasselakis.