Last week, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation to pave the way for early elections in a bid to secure popular support for his position on the bailout agreement with the country's creditors. The terms of the agreement include harsh austerity measures for Greece.
The Syriza lawmakers spoke of "developments that will go down in the history of the Left in bleak colors" in a statement published by the Kathimerini newspaper.
"As members of the central committee we cannot serve a new memorandum <…> which will deal the final blow to an already-devastated people," the statement reads, referring to Tsipras' intention to call elections without consulting the committee.
According to the newspaper, the 53 officials are expected to join the newly-formed Popular Unity party, led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
The new party is planning to run candidates in the elections which are expected to take place by the end of September.
On August 14, the Eurogroup approved a third bailout package for Athens, worth 86 billion euro ($95 billion at the current exchange rate), in exchange for more austerity reforms that include tax increases and pension cuts.
The left-wing Syriza party promised to revise Greece’s austerity measures, unpopular with the population, after securing victory in the January parliamentary elections.
