Reuters, Athens :So divided has Syriza’s youth wing become over the direction of Greece’s leftist party, that when its council planned to convene at the end of August, the meeting was abandoned. Too many of its 71 members were on the point of quitting.The incident showed the disillusionment Syriza’s twenty-somethings feel with leader Alexis Tsipras, the former Communist student activist they once celebrated as one of their own.In just seven months as premier, Tsipras, under pressure from Greece’s creditors, has backtracked on his pre-election promises to end austerity. “Syriza’s youth is almost over, very few people are staying behind,” said one of those who walked out.Tsipras has called an election on Sept. 20 in an effort to win a fresh mandate to push through the economic reforms that are a condition of Greece’s latest 86 billion euro bailout. But Syriza’s lead over its rivals has crumbled, with one poll this week showing the conservative New Democracy party in front.Support from those aged 18-44 – once the backbone of Syriza’s support according to pollsters – has plummeted. The most popular party for 18-24-year-olds now is the far right Golden Dawn, while Syriza languishes in fourth place, data by the pollster Alco show.A fractured election result could spell more turmoil for a country battered by recession and high unemployment, and risks derailing the implementation of the bailout programme that is up for review by the creditors in October.”These elections started as something ‘easy’ for Tsipras and have evolved into something extremely complicated,” said Thomas Gerakis, the head of pollster Marc.”The key issue in this race is what the former Syriza voters will do. Will Syriza manage to rally its former voters?”Having failed to muster the numbers for a formal meeting, the majority of Syriza’s central youth council confined itself to issuing a statement on Tuesday, denouncing the party’s “bankruptcy” and withdrawing its support for the election. The council was left with just 27 members at the last count.It is a remarkable turnaround for a party that stormed to power in January promising voters more jobs and an end to years of wage and pension cuts.During that election, Syriza’s young supporters played an outsize role on the frontline of the campaign, be it handing out leaflets, holding rallies or organising festivals. At forty years of age, Tsipras became the country’s youngest ever prime minister, and to many seemed a breath of fresh air compared to the dynasties that have dominated Greek politics for years. His government’s former spokesman is 35 years old.But after months of bad-tempered negotiations with the country’s lenders, and with banks shut and the economy on the brink of collapse, Tsipras capitulated to the creditors’ demands to raise taxes and slash spending to tackle Greece’s debt.Even though the standoff with the creditors worsened the country’s economic pain, opinion polls initially suggested that Tsipras remained Greece’s most popular leader, because he had at least put up a decent fight. His decision to call a referendum on the bailout incensed the creditors but played well at home.
