Greek far right fires up Athens election campaign


By Renee Maltezou & Deepa Babington

Greek far-right Golden Dawn lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris strode into a packed hotel room in central Athens last month to the sound of a marching song and supporters' cries of "Here comes the mayor!"

"In less than 100 years, Greeks will become a minority in their country. The only way to strike at the root of evil is through the municipal elections," Kasidiaris said, pledging to rid the Greek capital of "thieves and immigrants."

"We must win the May elections to save the Greek blood," he roared before leading the crowd in singing the national anthem.

The raucous gathering was just one campaign stop in an increasingly heated Athens' mayoral race, the most symbolic and closely watched battle in Greece's local and European elections in May - the first big electoral test for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras since he took power in 2012.

At stake is the right to run the ancient city that gave birth to democracy over 2,500 years ago but is now on its knees, riven by protests, rising homelessness and poverty-ridden areas.

After six years of recession and austerity, the election is being fought as much on national issues like an unpopular EU-IMF bailout as on local issues. Opposition parties see it as a test of sentiment on Samaras's pro-bailout government.

"The municipal elections now have more of a political meaning because they are being held for the first time in the middle of the chaos of the debt crisis," said Dimitris Mavros, head of the MRB polling agency.

The rise of far-right and anti-EU parties has been seen across Europe as voters shun the mainstream architects of austerity policies, such as in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and even non-euro zone Britain.

It...

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