ATHENS, Greece (AP) – A little-known political party endorsed by a jailed former lawmaker won seats in Greece’s next parliament in an election Sunday, signaling a political comeback for the far right.
The Spartans party was supported by Ilias Kasidiaris, who is currently serving 13 years in prison for membership of a criminal organization as a former leading member of Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi political party linked to multiple violent street attacks.
Ahead of Sunday’s election, parliament had introduced tougher rules on electoral eligibility designed to prevent Kasidiaris from running. A party he founded in prison was also disqualified and he switched his support to the Spartans.
“We have defeated an arrogant enemy… this is a great triumph for Greece and our motherland,” Kasidiaris wrote in a tweet from prison in central Greece.
The center-right New Democracy party won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, giving conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis a second term as prime minister. It inflicted a crushing defeat on its main rivals, the left-wing Syriza party, while three smaller parties were poised to gain national representation.
They include the Spartans and the ultra-religious Niki party, which has a support base on the fringes of the Greek Orthodox Church and gained a following for its opposition to the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program. The nationalist Hellenic Solution was returned to parliament.
With 4.7% of the popular vote, the Spartans will win 13 seats in the 300-member parliament. Party leader Vassilis Stigas publicly thanked Kasidiaris for his support in remarks on Sunday afternoon.
“We will represent Greek ideals and values in the next parliament, values that are currently absent,” said Stigas, a businessman and former aircraft mechanic.
Stella Ladi, a political scientist and associate professor at Queen Mary University of London, said support had been consolidated on the far right in many European countries.
“After Mitsotakis’ victory, this is the second most important result of today’s election and it is where we must direct our attention for the next few years,” Ladi told the AP.
“We need to understand why a traditionally left-leaning country gave 35 seats to the far right and what can be done to bring voters back to the center without compromising the future and liberal values.”
Support for Golden Dawn and the far right increased during the politically traumatic years of the financial crisis of the previous decade. The party was represented in parliament for seven years and four electoral cycles before falling short of the 3% threshold required for parliamentary representation in the 2019 elections.
Kasidiaris and other members of the party’s leadership were jailed in 2020 after being convicted of membership in a criminal organization linked to multiple violent street attacks against migrants and left-wing political activists.
