Greece's Supreme Court prosecutor on Thursday ordered the prosecution of 11 members of parliament from the right-wing opposition Spartans party, as well as jailed former Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris, on charges of voter fraud.
The head of the Spartans party, Vasilis Stygas, is not being persecuted. He publicly denounced his party's illegal behind-the-scenes activities.
Kasidiaris, who was already in prison for his actions as part of Golden Dawn, is accused of moral incitement to deceive voters, as a prosecutor's investigation showed that he was the true leader of the Sparants party, secretly controlled events and was responsible for the party's participation in the elections and election of deputies to parliament.
The persecution leads to political developments related to the seats that 11 MPs have in the Greek Parliament
The indictment is based on evidence showing that there was ongoing contact between the Spartan candidates and Kasidiaris while he was in prison, and he provided them with leadership and political support, which is prohibited by law for him and other imprisoned Golden Dawn members. , which is recognized as a criminal organization. The prosecutor also ordered to prosecute lawyer for facilitating contacts between Kasidiaris and the indicted deputies.
Seats in parliament
Already two of the persecuted Spartan deputies have declared their independence from the party, which is now losing its status “parliamentary group”. The future of the 11 parliamentary seats will depend on the final decision of the special Supreme Court.
If 11 MPs are found guilty of this crime, the likelihood increases that the Electoral Court will declare all MPs disqualified and then direct how vacant seats in Parliament should be filled. There are three possible scenarios:
- Occupy seats in each district with party candidates”Spartans“, who took second place.
- Proportionally distribute the percentage received by the Spartans in the elections among all parties participating in the elections in June 2023. In this scenario, ND will increase its percentage by 1.9% and reach 42.45%, gaining an additional five seats (163 instead of 158 today). Similarly, SYRIZA will get three more seats and the remaining seats will be distributed proportionally among other parties.
- Hold repeat elections in 11 regions where the corresponding number of Spartan deputies were elected. Let us remind you that the regions are Athens A, Piraeus B, Northern Sector of Athens, Western Sector of Athens, Eastern Attica, Aitoloakarnania, Heraklion Crete, Thessaloniki A and B, and Larissa.
Commentary by Ilias Kasidiaris
After the order of the Supreme Court prosecutor to prosecute 11 members of parliament and himself, Ilias Kasidiaris stated: “If I had a sense of humor, I would say I support the ND to have its members prosecuted by the Supreme Court.” In particular, he said:
“If I had a sense of humor, I would say that I support the ND to have its MPs prosecuted by the Supreme Court and immediately expelled from parliament by the electoral court.” These are jokes that underestimate the free will and intelligence of the Greek people.”
The statement of Ilias Kasidiaris became known from Vasso Pantazi, his lawyer in the criminal case “on incitement to voter fraud”initiated by the prosecutor's office of the Supreme Court.
It is worth noting that even countries such as “totalitarian” South Africa during the apartheid period provided more rights to imprisoned politicians than the current democratic Greece under the leadership of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Nelson Mandela, who was an ardent opponent of apartheid, was also imprisoned for his political beliefs, but was still able to participate in political activity.
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