Opinions differ about her. Elena Akritahis candidate SYRIZAwho took a solid second place in the state vote, succumbing to his flirtations. Alexis Tsipraswho had besieged her since last summer. The fact that opinions differ certainly satisfies her, as that is what she has systematically worked on the battlefields of Facebook for. Some of her critics call her “the SYRIZA troll”. But she does not admit that she is hiding behind pseudonyms.

Akrita, however, existed on the public stage long before social media. She completed a half-century career in prominent professional fields since she was 18 years old. Chronograph and euthymograph, TV presenter and journalist, actor, writer and screenwriter. In other words, we have at least four or five akritas that have been liked, read, discussed and approved, and that the current akrita still carries around.

Of course, today’s one will make sure to introduce us to the mostly left fighter Akrita. She knows she must do it, especially now that the parliamentary elections are only 15 days away, the only goal she wanted to achieve, but so far has resisted the temptation to try. Because, whatever one may say, family heritage defines our dreams more than we are willing to admit. As for Elena, Loukis Akritas’ father, her mother Silva Akritas, as well as her maternal grandfather Konstantinos Javasoglu held parliamentary positions.

Her mother, Silva Akrita, a social worker, was distinguished not only by her resistance to the junta, for which she was imprisoned in Averof for a year, but also by her style and personality, as well as her ideal and work in the first “Change” of government, when he became Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare (responsible for social security). Founding member PASOK, shines in the front row in white trousers and a black fitted blouse next to Kostas Simitis at the historic event on the occasion of the founding of the Movement on September 3, 1974 in King George. Ms. Silva Akrita, who today is proud of her candidate daughter, is the only woman to be elected as a Member of Parliament for PASOK in 1974.

Elena’s father, who lost him early when she was only 10 years old in 1965, was the famous Cypriot writer and journalist Loukis Akritas. He was a friend of Georgios Papandreou, and at the age of 35 in 1944 he was Deputy Minister of the Press in the first Liberation Government. Twenty years later, he was elected a member of the Centrist Union and sworn in as Deputy Minister of Education.

“I am who I am,” she answered “K” in the middle of a conversation that began with Tsipras and ended with Verdi’s Aida. Because her big passion, after Facebook, of course, is opera.

18-year-old Elena was already a Tahdromos correspondent when she participated in the 1973 polytechnic uprising, and was even arrested on the night of the events, but escaped from the police cell thanks to the help of a student and began to run. Since then, he has not stopped running. He writes, speaks and smiles, never ceasing to bear the stress and sadness of loss, compromise and disappointment. An addiction to sleeping pills and smoking (which he quit ten years ago), as well as a long association with depression, are issues he refers to with disarming honesty.

And since, probably, there are no more delightful writings than those signed by melancholics, somewhere in the 70s she wrote a euthymogram and gave it to the then director of Takgidromos, Nikos Kyriazidis, who was delighted.

She may have seen her mother arrested in front of her in 1967 when she was 12, but in 1981 she starred in Great Britain at the “wedding of the year” reception since her marriage to transport expert Nasos Kokkino has been described. She will become famous through books, but mostly through television shows such as the TV show The Crown of Grammat (1985) and the magazine Kyriakatika (1986). In “Kyriakatika” she met and fell in love with the actor and director Kostas Arzoglu. They got married in 1987 in another “wedding of the year” (more precisely, decades). Together they adopted a little boy, Pavlos, who was baptized by Aliki Vougiouklakis.

Elena “directed” her second husband, the director, to direct her and, like another Pygmalion, make her an actress. She was “reborn” starring opposite Arzoglu in 1990 in Ben Hecht’s stage comedy Front Page, which was made into a film by Billy Wilder in 1974. She enjoyed the irony of her old colleagues in the press, stepped firmly on the board and filled the treasury with money and envy. She was full of applause, but after a few seasons she realized that her passion is one: writing. She returned to journalism, print and electronic, and at the same time combined all her talents, starring in the series (Strass, Gova Stiletto), which she herself wrote together with the love of her life, her third crown, actor and screenwriter Giorgos Kiritsis.

At the height of their fame, the Kyrytsis-Akritas wrote “Faith at the Right Hand” and “Mystique tis Eden”, two daily series that were called “soap operas” and set records on television.

In recent years, she has immersed herself in Facebook and from her father’s house in Philothea (where she was born, grew up and lives to this day) raised the left wing, not hiding, of course, “two flats in London” for “unbuttoning”, which she herself told. that I bought with the proceeds from the series. She says that she has always belonged to the Renaissance Left (even if she voted for PASOK in the 70s and 80s because of her mother) and that in 2015 zero she supported “No” in the referendum not only by voting and her positions , but also with the hasty repatriation of the deposits she had in London (fortunately, the universe treated her well, and “no” turned into “yes”).

Her old friends (who don’t talk to her now) say that Elena has a tendency to take any conspiracy theory she hears on the phone or read online faster than those who value her intelligence would expect, to which she quickly agrees. turn into quite “critical” posts (as well as articles) of moral panic. However, her supporters (of whom there are many) single out a strong and witty personality. Mostly about a compassionate and courageous woman who is ready to fight in parliament for human rights, for minorities, for animal rights, and also to help fight the stigma of mental illness.

What does she say today to her old fans who are allergic to SYRIZA? “I am who I am” answered “K”, in the middle of a conversation that began with Tsipras and ended with a performance of Verdi’s Aida with Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann, which she recently enjoyed with her friends at the Vienna State Opera. Because her big passion, after Facebook, of course, is opera. Who, after all, he categorically assures us that he is not going to separate for the sake of politics.