Far-Right Greek MPs of ‘Spartiates’ Party Charged With Electoral Fraud

Eleven far-right Greek MPs of the Spartiates (Spartans) party have been charged with electoral fraud for complicity in deceiving the electorate during the 2023 parliamentary elections.

The party gained significant traction in the national polls, following an endorsement on Twitter by Ilias Kasidiaris, a former neo-nazi Golden Dawn MP who had been convicted in the trial declaring Golden Dawn a criminal organization. Kasidiaris urged his supporters to vote for Spartans in the June 2023 election.

The Golden Dawn strongman hailed the success of the Spartiates by posting a photo from outside his cell celebrating and wearing a t-shirt with the logo of the party.

“Today is a day of triumph for the Greeks who have been fighting for the Fatherland and at the same time an unprecedented defeat of the power system. The state failed to ban the original request of hundreds of thousands of Greeks for a strong National opposition. The first step towards the establishment of a strong National faction in the country’s political life has already been taken,” Kasidiaris said.

The 11 MPs to face charges include: Athanasios Halkias, Haralambos Katsivardas, Georgios Manousos, Alexandros Zerveas, Ioannis Dimitrokallis, Dionysios Valtgiannis, Georgios Aspiotis, Michalis Gavgiotakis, Ioannis Kontis, Petros Dimitriadis, and Konstantinos Floros.

The charges do not include party leader Vassilis Stigas.

Kasidiaris was also charged with aiding Spartiates

Kasidiaris is also charged with morally instigating the deception of voters, as the prosecutor’s investigation revealed he is the true leader of the Spartiates party. It was he who secretly controlled events and was responsible for the party running in the elections and electing MPs to Parliament.

The charge is based on evidence showing that there was continuous contact between the Spartiates candidates and Kasidiaris while he was in prison. He is said to have provided the party with guidance and political support. This would be illegal for both him and other jailed members of Golden Dawn, which was ruled to have been a criminal organization.

The investigation carried out by Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adeilini showed that, despite their official affiliation with the Spartiates party under the leadership of Stigas, it appears they were receiving support and direct guidance from Kasidiaris.

The 11 lawmakers effectively “used the Spartiates party as a front for a new political entity under Kasidiaris, thereby aiding him in circumventing the electoral restrictions imposed by election legislation,” the prosecutor’s report said.

The probe was launched after Stigas appeared at the prosecutor’s office in September 2023 and alleged that members of his party were under the influence of “outside centers” and employing “Greek mafia and Don Corleone” practices. He later retracted his comments.

In the June 2023 elections, the Spartiates party secured 4.68 percent of the vote, electing 12 MPs. The party currently holds 11 seats, as several MPs have come and gone amid disputes with Stigas.

According to the party, the traditions of Hellenism are missing from public life nowadays. Spartiates describes itself as “the iron arm and the real bulwark that will stop the decline and the sell-out of Greece and the Greeks.”