Ilias Kasidiaris – sentenced to 13 years in prison for his leading role in the now banned far-right Golden Dawn party– has announced his candidacy for the Athens mayoralty in the October local elections, pledging to preserve its Greek identity.
Jailed former member of the banned far-right Golden Dawn party Ilias Kasidiaris on Thursday, announced his candidacy to be Mayor of Athens through his lawyer.
“Ilias Kasidiaris will be a candidate for Mayor of Athens in the municipal elections in October and will contest the mayorship with the alliance Free Athens. His goal is to go to the second round and then take over the administration of the municipality,” his lawyer, Vasso Pantazi, said.
His announcement talks of preserving the Greek Christian identity of Athens, the alleged risk of its Greek population being replaced, curbing crime and reckless waste, the development of social projects, animal welfare and ecological actions, and achieving household energy self-sufficiency.
“The Christian faith and tradition of Athens will be preserved intact. Our priority is the well-being, safety, and economic development of the Athenian citizen. United, we can once again make Athens the capital of the Greeks,” it concludes.
In May, the Greek Supreme Court blocked the participation of the far-right National Party Greeks in the first round of parliamentary elections. Its founder, Ilias Kasidiaris, who has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for participating in the now banned Golden Dawn party, was, however, active on social networks from prison.
Kasidiaris tried again to participate in the second round of the elections in June as an independent candidate, but the court again blocked his participation.
After initially threatening to address the highest Greek and international courts, questioning the legitimacy of the elections, after the blockade of the Supreme Court he then supported a new far-right party, the Spartans, in which candidates from his own party were also running.
With Kasidiaris’s support, the hitherto unknown Spartans entered parliament after winnning 4.67 per cent of the votes without running any pre-election campaign.
Greek media outlet Kathimerini, citing government sources, reported that a new law is being mulled to block Kasidiaris’s candidacy in the municipal elections. This will prohibit any person convicted of serious crimes, even if only convicted at the first instance, from standing in any mayoral, gubernatorial, municipal or regional elections.
Source : BalkanInsight
