The leader of the “Spartani” party in Greece, Vasilis Stigas. Credit: Yorgos Karahalis / AP / Profimedia
A judicial decision gave a blow to the far -right movement in Greece, where parliamentarians of the Spartan Neofascist Party were left by mandates, The Guardian reports.
Invoking an electoral fraud, a specially constituted electoral court decided that three of the party's parliamentarians, including the leader of the formation, must be deprived of mandates, which, for the first time after the military regime, leaves the Athens Parliament with only 297 of the 300 legislators.
In an unprecedented step, the judges established that the voters were “deceived” in the general elections two years ago, because, although Vasilis Stigkas was described as the leader of the party, there was another person who fired the efforts: Ilias Kasidiaris, a neo-Sonazist and former leader of the Auri Daw party, now.
The exclusion decision in Parliament concerns Vasilis Stigas, Petros Dimitriadis and Alexandros Zerveas, according to ekathimerini.com.
According to the law, Greek parties cannot run for elections if their “true leaders” have been convicted for crimes such as participating in a criminal organization.
“The message for the far right is that it must respect the norms of democracy, of the democratic electoral competition,” said Lamprini Rori, a professor of political analysis at the University of Athens. “Many supporters see Kasidiaris as their natural leader and follow the extreme radical right ideology,” he added.
“The Spartans, a party of which The Guardian writes that he appeared from nowhere, obtained 12 parliamentary mandates in the June 2023 elections, being supported by Kasidiaris behind bars, after his own party,” Greeks “, was forbidden to challenge the elections.
Kasidiaris (44 years old), a declared negationist of the Holocaust, controlled the assassination teams of the golden dawn, who targeted immigrants and other perceived enemies, which brought to the party the nickname of the most violent neophaascist force in Europe.
After a marraton trial, he counted among the high-ranking cadres convicted for the management of a criminal organization who had disguised himself in the form of a political party, being sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison. He later appealed against punishments.
For a few years, the ultranationalist has found ways to address the supporters, through social networks, from prison.
Although the “golden dawn” no longer existed as an organization in the elections of 2023, the electorate brought to Parliament three far -right formations.
