Political ideologies

Ilias Kasidiaris, a former Golden Dawn party MP, who was handed a prison sentence of 13 years, speaking during the Golden Dawn trial in Athens, October 21, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/PANTELIS SAITAS

The Supreme Court has ruled that the National Party, founded by the convicted criminal and former Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris, may not contest the May 21 election.

A total of 36 parties and coalitions, as well as a single individual, will contest the May 21 election out of the 50 that had filed applications.

A section of the Supreme Court's Civil Division, made up of ten justices, decided that 14 of the 50 formations did not meet the criteria to take part in the election, for various reasons.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in a "panic" to prevent far-right parties from contesting the 21 May election, Main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has claimed.

Τhe Supreme Court will on Tuesday decide the fate of the National Party founded by the convicted criminal and former Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris.

A move by the far-right National Party-Greeks to remove three members of the Supreme Court's A1 Civil Section considering its eligibility to contest the May 21 election has been unanimously rejected.

National Party-Greeks was founded in 2020 by convicted criminal Ilias Kasidiaris, a former MP with the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party from 2012 to 2019.

The Independent Anti-Money Laundering Authority has ordered an investigation into allegations that the Greek Solution party took cash payments from its MPs without issuing receipts.

Outgoing party MPs Antonis Mylonakis and Aikaterini Alexopoulou said that the party, which is led by Kyriakos Velopoulos, took the money from its MPs.

As the May 21 elections draw nearer, several parties on the right of the ruling New Democracy are competing for the support of extremist voters. Amid the legal battle to prevent him from running with his newly formed National Party, there has been much speculation about the plans of Ilias Kasidiaris, the convicted leader of the now-defunct neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.

Three former leading figures in the now-defunct neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party were cleared of inciting racist violence in a case relating to derogatory comments allegedly made against Muslim lawmakers in Parliament in March 2018.

President Novak, a former family affairs minister, is seen as a loyal ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, but also someone who cleverly navigates European diplomatic circles.