The top Greek court ruled to ban the far-right Greeks Party from taking part in the upcoming election next month, approving legal amendments made by lawmakers.
The amendments adopted by Parliament in February disqualify parties led by politicians convicted of serious offenses or ones that would not "serve the free functioning of (Greece’s) democratic constitution."
Imprisoned former lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris and his Greeks Party are not allowed to participate in the May 21 election under those terms. The ban, broadly supported by Greece’s mainstream political parties, was upheld despite an 11th-hour change in the Greeks Party leadership.
He was among several top Golden Dawn members handed heavy prison sentences in October 2020 by a court that labeled the neo-Nazi party a criminal organization.
The judges deemed Hellenes to be a "continuation of Golden Dawn," the legal source said.
Greek government spokesperson Akis Skertsos welcomed what he called a "historic decision" that would prevent "the enemies of democracy" from sitting in parliament.
"It's our common duty to protect democracy," he added.
Vaso Pantazi, a lawyer for Kasidiaris, denounced the ruling, saying "half a million Greeks" were being deprived of the right to vote for the party of their choice.
The banning of a party from a Greek election is believed to be a first since the restoration of democracy in 1974 following a seven-year military dictatorship.
Another small right-wing party, EAN, received the court's authorization to contest the election.
Far-right fears
Kasidiaris was among nearly 60 Golden Dawn members convicted in 2020 of the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas and other crimes including murder, assault and running a criminal organization.
The hot-tempered former food scientist – who was a lawmaker from 2012 to 2019 – was sentenced to 13.5 years behind bars.
He is an admirer of the Third Reich and has a swastika tattooed on his left arm. He once slapped a communist lawmaker on television.
Jail has not stopped him from preaching to his supporters through voice messages from prison and running a YouTube channel with more than 120,000 followers.
The 42-year-old had recently stated his ambition to run for a constituency in central Athens in this month's election.
In February, the parliament amended a 2021 electoral law that stipulated that a political party cannot take part in a vote if its leadership – official or unofficial – has been convicted of membership in a criminal organization.
The final decision eventually fell to the Supreme Court.
Before the ruling, Kasidiaris had denounced "an unimaginable coup against democracy" by those trying to deny a voice to "hundreds of thousands of voters" supportive of his party.
The popularity of Golden Dawn peaked at the height of Greece's financial crisis, alarming European partners.
The group was polling at 10 percent at one point in 2013, making it the third most popular party.
It failed to win a single seat in the last parliamentary election in 2019, after which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sought to avoid neo-Nazis returning to the legislature.
According to a poll for the Open TV channel on Friday, Hellenes would win four percent of the vote in the election, meeting the three-percent threshold needed to sit in the parliament.