MeRA25
Which party was Sofia Sakorafa a member of after Feb 2018?
Sofia Sakorafa Sofia Sakorafa ( , born 29 April 1957 in Trikala , Greece ) is a Greek-Palestinian politician and former javelin thrower . She was a Member of the European Parliament for Greece as member of the political party MeRA25 , having formerly sat for Syriza and before that served , from June 2012 to July 2014 , as a Syriza Member of the Hellenic Parliament . She now serves as a deputy speaker in the Hellenic Parliament for the MeRA25 party . Education . Sakorafa graduated in physical education from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki . Athletics . She started competing in athletics at age fifteen as a member of Trikala Gymnastic Club . In total , Sakorafa – often pushed by her antagonism with Anna Verouli – broke the Greek record for the javelin seventeen times . She competed in the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics . She won the bronze medal at the 1982 European Championships in Athens . A few days later , on 26 September 1982 , at the Greek national championships in Chania , Sakorafa broke the world record with a throw of 74.20 metres . That mark stood as a Greek record until the new javelin was introduced in 1999 . In 1983 , after winning the Balkan Games , she had achieved the third performance of the year with a throw of 72.28 m , but eventually had to withdraw from the World Championships in Helsinki , due to injury . 2004 Olympics . Sakorafa stirred controversy in 2004 when she became a Palestinian citizen and applied a few months before the Olympic Games for a berth on the Palestinian Olympic team at the age of 47 . She made her debut representing Palestine in Chania , Crete , on 28 June 2004 - her performance was 47.23 metres . Despite the fact that her gesture to participate as a Palestinian was symbolic , the IAAF ruled her ineligible for the 2004 Summer Olympics . Professional career . Sakorafa worked in as a secondary teacher of physical education before working as a freelance . From 1994 to 1996 , she served as an adviser to the sports minister and as Chairman of the Commission for Sport and Woman . Political career . She has served on the City Councils of Athens , from 1994 to 1998 , and Maroussi , from 1998 to 2006 . She was elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament under the banner of PASOK three times ( in the elections of 2000 , 2007 and 2009 ) . She failed to win a seat in parliament following the 2004 elections . On 6 May 2010 she refused to vote in favour of the austerity measures and the loan agreement between the Greek government and the IMF/EU . As a result , she was expelled from PASOK and served as an independent member of the parliament until 2012 . She participated in the 2012 legislative elections as a member of Syriza and was elected in Athens B . In the Shadow Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras , she had responsibility for the interior . She resigned from the Hellenic Parliament in May 2014 in order to contest the European Parliament election . In the 2014 European Parliament elections , she was elected as a Member of European Parliament for Greece , representing Syriza . She is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs , the Committee on Petitions and is a substitute for the Committee on Industry , Research and Energy . Since the 16 October 2014 , she has been the chair of the Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America , having previously been a member . She is therefore also a member of the Conference of Delegation Chairs . On 28 September 2015 , Sakorafa left Syriza and currently sits as an Independent within the GUE/NGL grouping . She resigned from Syriza over disagreements with the leadership over the introduction of further austerity measures in Greece . She said : Its clear that I cannot support any government nor any policies that involve measures that harm the people . In December 2018 Sofia Sakorafa joined the Greek party MeRA25 . On the 26th of May 2019 , she narrowly lost reelection as a member of the European Parliament as member of MeRA25 . References . - Info - IAAF Profile External links . This article incorporates text from the article Sofia_Sakorafa on Phantis.com , which is licensed under the GFDL ( ) .