Editing Alekos Alavanos (section)

===Political career===
He was elected to the [[European Parliament]] in 1981 with the [[Communist Party of Greece]] and again in 1989, 1994 and 1999 with Synaspismos.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

In the [[2004 Greek legislative election]], Alavanos was elected MP in Athens. Since [[Nikos Konstantopoulos]], his predecessor in Synaspismos' leadership, announced his intention not to be a candidate for another term, Alavanos announced his own candidacy for the office. The party congress elected him president on 12 December 2004.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

In the [[2007 Greek legislative election]], running as leader of SYRIZA, which more than doubled its parliamentary seats, he was narrowly elected an MP in Heraklion, Crete.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

On 27 November 2007, Alavanos announced that he would not apply for a renewal of his presidency of Synaspismos at its 5th party congress in February 2008, due to private reasons.<ref>[http://www.syn.gr/gr/keimeno.php?id=8163 Synaspismos press release]</ref> He was replaced by [[Alexis Tsipras]].

{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#F5FAFF|align=left|quote="In Europe all the big powers, the parties, the banks, the big corporations have a plan B to deal with the prospect of Greece's exit from the eurozone. Only Greece has not in hand a plan B. Both the government and the parties in opposition have neglected the necessity to work on a plan B. If however, Greece is taken by surprise when forced to exit the eurozone, with people panicking, this is going to be a disaster."|source=—Alavanos, as quoted in [[Workers' Liberty]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2012/12/11/greek-left-and-plan-b|title=The Greek left and Plan B|publisher=[[Workers' Liberty]]|date=11 December 2012|accessdate=9 May 2013}}</ref>}}

In February 2011 he left [[Synaspismos]] and founded the [[Front of Solidarity and Overthrow]] with other former members of [[Coalition of the Radical Left]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}} [[Communist Organization of Greece]], [[Internationalist Workers' Left (Greece)|Internationalist Workers' Left]], [[Movement for the United in Action Left]] and [[Anticapitalist Political Group]] joined the front, but they left it in 2012 due to political disputes.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

He again founded a new political party in 2013, founding [[Plan B (Greece)|Plan B]] specifically to contest the [[2014 European Parliament election in Greece]].<ref name="ek">{{cite web|url=http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_12/03/2013_487173|title=Ex-SYRIZA leader Alavanos to launch 'Plan B' movement favoring Greek euro exit|publisher=[[Kathimerini]]|date=12 March 2013|accessdate=9 May 2013}}</ref> The party's platform is centered on exiting Greece from the eurozone.<ref name="ek" />