Three lawmakers of the far-right Spartans party, including its leader, will lose their parliamentary seats after Greece’s Special Highest Court cancelled their election on Tuesday, citing voter deception.
The ruling will affect Vasilis Stigas, head of the party, and MPs Petros Dimitriadis, and Alexandros Zerveas.
The court found that electoral fraud had been committed as the undercover leader of the Spartans was Ilias Kasidiaris, a jailed deputy who was once a leading member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
“The case of the deception of voters by the electoral ticket of a political party with a hidden leader concerns the entire country and, in particular, the electoral districts in which they were elected members of parliament of the political party in question,” the court decision said.
The ruling creates a unique precedent, as it is the first time that the Greek Parliament will operate with 297 MPs instead of 300, as the specific crime does not provide for the redistribution of the empty parliamentary seats among the other political parties.
The nature of the electoral violation also does not allow for second runner ups to take over the seats of the deposed MPs, the court said.
The case against the three lawmakers was initiated by three citizens who appealed against their election in the 2023 national polls.
The decision comes after a separate criminal case in an Athens appeals court in May acquitted 11 Spartan lawmakers of the same charge, with judges ruling that there was insufficient evidence to support claims of electoral deception.
The Special Highest Court is regarded as the supreme constitutional and electoral court of Greece with a mandate to decide, among others, on the validity of electoral results and the deposition of a member of the Parliament. It is not a permanent court and it sits only when a case belonging to its special competence arises.