Three Members of Parliament from Greece’s far-right “Spartiates” party, including its leader Vasilis Stigas, will lose their seats following a landmark decision by Greece’s special High Court. The court annulled their 2023 election victories, citing electoral fraud tied to the party’s hidden leadership.
The High Court, responsible for judging the validity of parliamentary elections, found that the true, albeit concealed, leader of the “Spartiates” at the time of the 2023 elections was Ilias Kasidiaris. Kasidiaris, a former spokesperson and senior official of the now-disbanded neo-Nazi party “Golden Dawn” (labeled a criminal organization), is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence for his involvement. By law, he was barred from running in the 2023 national elections, where “Spartiates” controversially entered parliament for the first time, securing 12 seats.
In addition to Stigas, MPs Petros Dimitriadis and Alexandros Zerveas have lost their parliamentary positions. This ruling sets a unique precedent, as it marks the first time the Greek parliament will operate with 297 MPs instead of its mandated 300 seats. The court explicitly ruled out any redistribution of the vacated seats among other parties, and also prohibited other “Spartiates” candidates from replacing the expelled deputies.
The “Spartiates” party was previously excluded from the European Parliament elections last June.
