In a landmark decision, Greece’s electoral tribunal has stripped three MPs from the far-right Spartans party, including leader Vasilis Stigkas, of their parliamentary seats, citing electoral fraud.
The ruling reduces the Greek Parliament to 297 members for the first time since the fall of military rule.
The court found that voters were misled during the 2023 general election, as the real power behind the Spartans was not Stigkas, but Ilias Kasidiaris—an unrepentant neo-Nazi and jailed former leader of the disbanded Golden Dawn party.
Greek law prohibits parties from participating in elections if their true leaders have been convicted of serious crimes, such as running a criminal organisation.
“This is a message for the far-right—that it must respect the norms of democracy,” said Lamprini Rori, assistant professor at the University of Athens.
Kasidiaris, a Holocaust denier, was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison in 2020 for his role in orchestrating Golden Dawn’s violent activities. Despite his incarceration, he endorsed the Spartans from prison after his own party, the Hellenes, was banned.
Political analyst Dimitris Psarras said the Spartans served as “the vitrine of Kasidiaris in parliament,” and warned that while this ruling is a setback, far-right influence in Greece is far from over.
“Kasidiaris still has a support base of mostly young people who hold regular meetings on the internet to discuss his comeback.”
Rori noted that 80% of Spartans voters previously supported Golden Dawn. “Many supporters may now be waiting for Kasidiaris to tell them what to do next.”
Though the Spartans have lost momentum amid internal conflicts, the broader far-right remains a growing force in Greek politics, with three far-right parties currently represented in parliament.
