Filed in parliament amendments to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the conditions for the formation of a combination in the parliamentary elections elections. The amendment, which puts a “bloc” in the Kasidiari party, is expected to be discussed and voted on in the plenary session of parliament next Tuesday, as it was included in the bill of the Ministry of Development entitled “Inclusion of Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 25, 2020 “On representative action to protect the collective interests of consumers and repeal Directive 2009/22/EC”, strengthening consumer protection, the legal framework for wine aging and other urgent provisions to accelerate development.”

The draft submitted to Parliament builds on an already existing provision (Article 92 of Law 4804/2021) according to which political parties, the President, the General Secretary, the members of the steering committee and the legal representative have been sentenced to imprisonment for certain offenses against the state.

The added value of this amendment applies to those cases where the leadership of the party is virtual, i.e. “front men” are established, and the real leadership is carried out by other persons subject to restrictions, i.e. having a criminal record. In the Government’s view, this provision is fully compatible with the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

With the amendment entitled “The right to association in parliamentary elections – Replacement of paragraph 1 of Art. 32 f.d. No. 26/2012” provides for:

The right to unite in parliamentary elections – Replacement of part 1 of Article 32 of Law 26/2012

Clause 1 of Article 32 p.d. 26/2012 (A’ 57) is replaced as follows:

“1. Either combinations of candidates from the same party, or combinations of a coalition of more than one cooperating party, or coalitions of independent candidates, or individual candidates take part in parliamentary elections. In order to constitute a combination in the aggregate, the following conditions must be met:

a) The party must be legally established.

b) The President, the General Secretary, the members of the steering committee, the legal representative and the de facto leadership of the party have not been sentenced to any degree of imprisonment for the crimes under chapters 1-6 of the Second Book of the Criminal Code. of the Code, or to any sentence for crimes under the Military Penal Code punishable by life imprisonment, or to life imprisonment for any other crime. The deprivation of the right to make combinations in the present case is applied for the term of the sentence imposed and is calculated from the day following the day of the final conviction. The imposition or non-imposition of a fine or its limitation period does not affect the calculation of the above time period. In the context of this article, real leadership means that a person who is not a person who is not formally holding the office of president, general secretary, member of the steering committee or legal representative by specific actions, as if exercising party control, or actually put leadership or have a leading political role in relation to the electorate.

c) The organization and activities of the party serve the free functioning of the democratic state. In order to assess the contribution to this condition, any conviction to any degree of candidates for deputy, founding members or acting president for the offenses and penalties provided for in the first paragraph of cb) shall be taken into account.

In the case of a coalition of parties, the above conditions must be met for each of the parties included in the coalition.

Compliance with these terms and conditions is reviewed ex officio by the First Division of the Supreme Court. To aid his judgment, political parties and every voter have the right to submit a memorandum with documentary evidence up to the day after the expiration of the period established by paragraph 1 of Article 34.

“Democracy cannot be completely tolerant of its enemies”

According to government sources:

• “Firstly, this provision does not violate the principle of proportionality, since it does not prevent someone who has been convicted of even serious crimes against the state from being a candidate for Parliament, whether he is an independent or a member of political parties, except that this is excluded if he is the actual leader of the party with which he is running in the elections.”
• “Secondly, the Republic cannot be completely tolerant of its enemies. Those who invent it using it.”
• “Thirdly, the free functioning of a democratic state is not served in the case of the formation of a “dummy party” that acts and functions as a criminal organization, on the one hand, when the leading group of the party commits acts with a high degree of criminal notoriety, which has been proven in a judicial order even in the first instance, on the other hand, when the conviction for specific crimes of candidates for deputies, founding members and current leaders of the party indicates an inability to serve the free functioning of a democratic state.
• “Fourthly, as emphasized by the Plenum of the Council of Europe (Decision 518/2015), by binding the observance by the parties of the obligation to serve democracy, the general legislator: “it is possible … within the framework of the principle of proportionality and respect for the right to a remedy under Article 20 para. .1 of the Constitution to establish negative conditions that prevent the provision of state financial assistance, not only for reasons related to the management of this assistance by the beneficiary of the party … but also for significant reasons related to the activity generated by it, which, according to Article 29 para. 1 of the Constitution, must serve the free functioning of a democratic state.
• “Fifthly, the position does not enter into an assessment of the characteristics and ideology of the parties, which would open the sack of Aeolus and put the Areopagus in a position to assess the substance of the positions of the parties at the risk of over-expanding the restrictions.”

According to the same sources, “in conclusion, the government’s proposed regulation puts a barrier only to the participation in elections of criminal organizations that act in the clothes of a political party. In particular, the existing rule prohibiting participation in the leadership of a political party applies to persons convicted of particularly compromising crimes against the state, including not only the actual leadership, but also those who exercise the actual leadership of the party. In addition, when declaring combinations, any conviction of party officials for these offenses will be taken into account. It is the duty of the local political forces to exhaust all constitutional possibilities so that the black pages of Greek political history do not return and those who strive for democracy, taking advantage of the tolerance that democracy itself demonstrates, do not receive a foothold. This is a time of responsibility for all of us.”

Mitsotakis: complies with the regulations in force in some European countries.

Earlier in the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the provision on protecting democracy from criminal organizations and individuals as “very important”, stressing that it is similar to the provisions in force in several European countries. “Its purpose – I repeat – is not to exclude ideas, but to defend normality and constitutional freedoms. That is why we are asking, we are looking for, I hope we can achieve the support of all parties,” he said.

From now on, groups whose main leader is a person convicted as a criminal will not be able to participate in the electoral process. This will obviously be decided by the Supreme Court, which, according to the Constitution, is also empowered to announce candidate parties.

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) February 2, 2023

He noted that according to the new procedure, from now on, groups whose main leader is a person convicted as a criminal will not be able to participate in the electoral process. “Obviously, this will be decided by the Supreme Court, which, according to the Constitution, is also authorized to announce candidate parties. However, its criteria will now also include clear conditions established by the new legislation. I repeat that this is about the reaction of the state to the law, but I would also say about the moral duty of democracy to defend itself against its enemies. Because the latter cannot legalize, certainly cannot finance organizations that openly undermine its activities. Unfortunately, we also have a history of illegality, banditry and criminal practices of the past. I think this is out of place in Greece in the third decade of the 21st century. However, there are more in Parliament, and, as I said, I count on cross-party support for this important initiative,” the Prime Minister said.