Right-wing politics

Forty-seven parties, party coalitions, and individuals had submitted applications to Greece's Supreme Court by Wednesday evening for approval to run in the May 21 national elections.

Ilias Kasidiaris, the convicted leader of the now-disbanded neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, will attempt to run in the upcoming elections on May 21 with his own far-right political party.

With elections nearing and the Supreme Court set to decide whether a particular party has the right to participate, the landscape remains blurry regarding the fate of the extreme-right National Party of jailed former Golden Dawn official Ilias Kasidiaris.

The way the Greek political system handled a major institutional and political issue such as banning the party formed by Ilias Kasidiaris, the former Golden Dawn lawmaker who is serving a 13-year prison sentence for membership in a criminal organization, was not only not exemplary, but it is likely to lead to a strengthening of the appeal of the anti-systemic extreme right.

An expert wreck researcher has located the remains of a ferry boat that went down off the southeastern coast of Evia on the afternoon of February 23, 1983, killing 28 passengers and crew, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency reported on Wednesday.

BELGRADE - The Serbian Ministry of Defence said on Monday that, by a March 16 decision of the Serbian government, the international military tactical exercise Platinum Wolf 23 had been exempted from a moratorium on planning, preparation and execution of exercises with foreign partners at home and abroad.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has appealed to all democratic forces to agree and vote in favor of a fresh government measure to ban a far-right political party from participating in next month's general election.

Christos Tzanerikos, the Vice President of the Supreme Court, has stepped down from his position after criticizing a government amendment that sought to strengthen a ban on the Greek National Party (Ellines) from participating in the upcoming May 21 general election.

The Greek government plans to introduce a legislative provision aimed at blocking the Greek National Party (Ellines), a far-right party founded by former MP Ilias Kasidiaris, from participating in the upcoming elections. 

On Thursday, government spokesperson Ioannis Oikonomou announced that this provision would be added to the final bill to be voted on before Easter. 

Ilias Kasidiaris in Athens, October 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/KOSTAS TSIRONIS

The Ellines party was founded in 2020 by a former member of the far-right Golden Dawn, Ilias Kasidiaris, who is currently serving a sentence for being part of a criminal organisation.