Greek communist party leader steps down after 22 years

Greek Communist Party (KKE) leader Aleka Papariga stepped down after 22 years at the post of the Secretary Secretary and another party veteran, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, was elected as her successor on Sunday. Papariga, aged 68, became the first female party chief in Greece in 1991 and is one of the longest serving party heads in recent history. She has been a KKE member since the 1960's. Koutsoumbas, 58 years old with Law studies, who is taking over, joined the party as a young activist, like Papariga, and has served as a member of the central committee since 1987. The change in leadership comes as KKE, which was founded in 1918, suffers from low popularity. In last June's general elections it garnered 4.5 percent of votes, well below the percentages that had secured the party the third place in Greek parliament for decades. Today KKE is the smallest party of a total of seven parties in the 300-member strong assembly, controlling 12 seats. Despite its anti-austerity, anti-bailout rhetoric in a country suffering from a severe debt crisis since 2009, KKE did not capitalize on voters' anger at the painful government policies implemented to tackle the crisis in return of international loans to keep afloat, as it has happened with other opposition parties.