Greek high court ruling bans party of jailed Golden Dawn co-leader from standing in upcoming elex

A 10-judge Greek supreme court tribunal on Tuesday released a highly anticipated ruling whereby a party established by jailed Golden Dawn “lieutenant” Ilias Kasidiaris is banned from participating in the upcoming May 21 general election.

The decision, nine to one, is based on the fact that Kasidiaris is a convicted felon and a past leader of an outlawed political party deemed, from other court decisions, as a criminal organization.
Conversely, another new party, called “EAN”, founded by a former Supreme Court assistant prosecutor, Anastasios Kanellopoulos, was given a “green light” to stand in the coming election.

According to repeated media reports, Kasidiaris’ “plan B” was to stand as a candidate in the latter party, although this hasn’t been verified.

The party by the former GD deputy, who’s jailed in a maximum security lockup in south-central Greece, is called “Ellines” (Greek for Greeks). A bevy of recent opinion polls calculated that it exceeds 3 percent of voters’ support, the threshold in a general election (of valid votes) for representation in Greece’s Parliament.

Initial reports state that the majority of high court justices considered Kasidiaris’ new party as a “continuation” of the criminal Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) party.

In an angry reaction from his prison cell, Kasidiaris referred to the “final dissolution” of democracy in the country, while claiming that the ruling prevents half a million Greek citizens from voting for the party of their choosing.