MacroPolis

The contest for this summer’s European Parliament elections is becoming more intense, as exemplified by developments this week which saw the far-right Spartiates (Spartans) party banned from taking party in the June 9 ballot.

The Supreme Coury published its decision to block Spartiates on Wednesday, arguing that the party was controlled by former Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kassidiaris who is imprisoned for membership of a criminal organisation. Kassidiaris and 11 current and former Spartiates MPs were charged earlier this year with defrauding voters based on evidence provided by the party’s leader Vassilios Stigas.

The Supreme Court ruling cites evidence from the case supporting the claim that the former Golden Dawn cadre hand-picked candidates for Spartiates and directed them from prison. It goes on to say that there was a plan in motion to replace Stigas with a leader under the direct control of Kassidiaris and to embezzle the state funding for the party. The ruling concludes that Spartiates, led by Kassidiaris, ultimately aimed to undermine democratic institutions through violence, the encouragement of violence and the promotion of totalitarian beliefs.

It emerged on Saturday that New Democracy submitted to the Supreme Court a memorandum arguing that the far-right Spartiates (Spartans) grouping should be banned from participating in the June 9 vote. PASOK also asked for the judges to intervene.

A Metron Analysis poll published last week suggested that Spartiates is on course to gain 2.5 pct in the EP elections, placing it ninth among the parties that are due to compete for Greeks’ votes this summer.

This is not a significant vote share, especially when compared to the 8.3 pct that another party on the nationalist right, Greek Solution, is projected to gain. However, the recent decline in its ratings means that there is concern among some New Democracy officials that the centre-right party’s share of the vote could dip close to or even below 30 pct, which would be substantially lower than the almost 41 pct it gained in last summer’s national elections and possibly even below the 33 pct ND won in the last European Parliament elections. In this context, one or two percentage points could make the difference between a result that ND could argue is respectable and one that would put it on the back foot. Removing Spartiates from the electoral equation could help with the arithmetic on June 9.

A survey carried by Opinion Poll and published by Action 24 TV this week gives New Democracy 33.2 pct in its projections, compared to the 33.1 pct secured in 2019.

SYRIZA comes second with 15.1 pct, widening its lead over PASOK with 12 pct. Greek Solution follows with 10.5 pct, confirming the ultranationalists’ gains over recent months, while KKE follows with 8.7 pct. Among the smaller parties, Course for Freedom is projected to get 4 pct of the vote, religious hardliners Niki 3.8 pct, SYRIZA breakaway party New Left 2.9 pct and ex-PASOK minister Andreas Loverdos’s Democrates 2.8 pct.

By being at the forefront of pushing for the far-right party to be excluded, ND is also aiming to steal a march on SYRIZA and PASOK in their efforts to appeal to voters in the centre ground. New Democracy wants to present itself as the true bulwark against the far right.

Following the announcement of the Supreme Court decision, the chief government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis turned on SYRIZA for not taking a more active role in ejecting the far-right party. ND, along with PASOK and New Left had filed memoranda with the court arguing in favour of barring Spartiates.

Marinakis accused SYRIZA and its leader Stefanos Kasselakis of taking a back seat in the process in a bid to attract far-right voters, pointing to a comment by Stigas who praised the leftist party in Parliament for having “dignity” in not seeking to bar his party.

The comments were mirrored by PASOK, whose parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Mantzos called on SYRIZA to explain its stance.

New Democracy also stepped up this week its efforts to repair its relationship with right-wing voters ahead of the EP vote. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis appeared alongside the head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos, at a public event on Friday.

The government is keen to show that it maintains a solid relationship with the church amid concern that these ties, as well as those with some of the Christian Orthodox faithful have been damaged by the PM’s decision to push ahead with the same-sex marriage legislation earlier this year, which the Church of Greece strongly opposed.

Concerns about the marriage equality law becoming a flashpoint in the upcoming elections increased after a New Democracy MP, Angeliki Delikari, was slapped in church over the weekend by a female member of the ultra-orthodox Niki party. One of the 10 MPs representing the religious conservatives in the Greek Parliament appeared to defend the incident in comments made on Monday.

A number of other New Democracy lawmakers, and even ministers, have come under verbal attack in churches and public ceremonies over the last few weeks because they voted for the marriage equality law. The incidents are to some extent a barometer of the mood among a section of right-wing voters, who seem to have strong objections to the legislation.

Last week, a survey carried out by ProRata on behalf of Attica TV found that only 30 pct of voters who self-identify as right or far right support New Democracy, compared to 31 pct who favour Greek Solution, the ultra-nationalist party that has been the main beneficiary of the souring mood on the right of the political spectrum over the last few months. Eight pct also say they back the religious hardliners of Niki, and 7 pct support Foni Logikis (Voice of Logic), another hard right party.

ProRata also asked voters who backed New Democracy in last summer’s national elections but now support another party why they have shifted their allegiances. Sixty pct said that they have switched because they feel their party has moved away from its traditional positions, while 14 pct feel that most parties have become “systemic”.

When the same group of voters was asked what two issues have most shaped how they view political developments in Greece over the last few months, 51 pct identified the same-sex marriage legislation.