By Antonis Anzoletou

The answer to the question of whether the political system has ended with far-right formations is not simple. At the beginning of February, the Parliament passed the article that prohibits the formation of combinations for parties whose president, general secretary, representative or real leader have been convicted of crimes against state-political bodies and against public order. The Scientific Council of the Parliament deemed it constitutional and it was supported by New Democracy and PASOK. THE SYRIZA was among the parties that had tabled its own proposal expressing doubts about its effectiveness. The 1st Department of the Supreme Court, which is responsible for declaring the electoral combinations of the parties, will rule on the electoral exclusion or not of the “National Party – Hellenes” party of the condemned Ilias Kasidiaris. The elections will be held on May 21 and the Supreme Court is expected to rule on May 5. It will also be judged whether the candidate parties meet the conditions to serve the free functioning of the state. It is recalled that now the Supreme Court can ex officio check for the legality of a party’s participation in the elections.

What is the problem; The way out that far-right forces will probably look to find in order to bypass a possible negative decision of the Supreme Court. And this, according to experienced Constitutionalists, concerns the creation of a coalition of independent candidates. In a recent article, Nikos Alivizatos, professor of Constitutional Law, wrote in the newspaper “TA NEA” on the subject: “This window can be prevented in a very simple way: before the current Parliament is dissolved, an amendment with the following content should be passed: ” the prohibitions of cases b) and c) of paragraph 1 article 32 of the electoral law (p.d. 26/102), as amended by article 102 n.5019/2023 (Α΄27), also apply to coalitions of independent candidates”. It only needs a simple majority from the Plenary, but it is something that, since it has been discussed (no such thing has been known), must be done relatively immediately since the Parliament is not expected to reopen after Easter.

It is a fact that after the accident at Tempe the political landscape has seen ups and downs. Forms that had either been created or were still “in a dream” see that they have a great opportunity in front of them to take advantage of the anti-systemic vote. The memories are still fresh of how in 2012 Golden Dawn took advantage of the economic crisis, but also of the immigrants in the center of Athens to manage to pass the 3% threshold and enter the Parliament. Now they may attempt to exercise the right to be elected without the mediation of political parties.

On May 2, for the first time, the party formations will submit to the Supreme Court an application with the persons who will make up their ballots. It will have preceded, two days before the submission of the name and the mark.