The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has vowed to fight the "extreme right and fascist forces that gained seats in Parliament" after right-wing parties won 35 seats in Sunday's elections.
General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoubas said on Sunday night after the election results gave his party 7.67% of the vote and 20 seats in Parliament that tThe deputies chosen by KKE will be at the forefront of struggles the day after, where they promised they would be, at labour and popular issues, standing by workers, popular forces, and youth."
"The day after will be tough for the Greek people," the Communist Party leader said, "and KKE would be at the rampants to fight by the people as opposition."
"The Greek people must not wait, must not award a grace period, especially a large segment of the working class who voted for ND with a heavy heart," he said.
Koutsoubas listed the challenges the people would face in the economy and politics, and mentioned the rise of extreme right and fascist forces that gained seats in Parliament.
"It proves that fascism and neo-Nazism, because of their nature, cannot be dealt with substantially through some legislative interventions," but KKE would continue to fight against them, along with the working-class movement, as it has done so far.
With nearly all ballots counted by 22:28 on Sunday, the second round of Greek elections established a clear victory for New Democracy, with 40.56% of the votes and 158 seats in the 300-seat Parliament.
Of the right-wing:
- Spartans, 4.68% and 13 seats,
- Greek Solution, 4.45% and 12 seats, and
- Niki, 3.70% and 10 seats.
Collectively, the three parties topped 12% of the popular vote.
How did the other parties shape up?
- New Democracy, 40.55% and 158 seats
- SYRIZA, 17.84% and 47 seats
- PASOK-KINAL, 11.87% and 32 seats
- Communist Party, 7.67% and 20 seats
- Plefsi Eleftherias, 3.17% and 8 seats
The Spartans (Spartiates) party represents all the ideals and values of Hellenism, said leader Vassilis Stigas in statements after his party won 12 seats in Parliament at Sunday's national elections.
Spartans have arrived "to unite, not divide," he said, adding that "a national party, a national voice will again be in Parliament, after a long time."
Stigas thanked party supporters for "the hard work we did for about three weeks," seeing as the party was only recently created, between the two national elections of May 21 and June 25.
Vassilis Stingas – who founded the party in 2017 after an increasingly right-leaning trajectory that began in Antonis Samaras’ Political Spring, before passing through Giorgos Karatzaferis’ Popular Orthodox Rally and Vassilis Kapernaros’ Radical National Rally – thanked Kasidiaris for his support on Sunday night.
Kasidiaris was one of dozens of key members of the now-defunct neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party convicted of being a member of a criminal organization, among other charges. He tried to run in both the May 21 and June 25 elections under different guises, but was blocked by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Elliniki Lisi (Greek Solution) leader Kyriakos Velopoulos slammed pollsters in his statement at the end of election day on Sunday, blaming them for misleading viewers that his party would not make it into Parliament even though results pointed to the polar opposite.
They were "telling us that our highest projected percentage maximum is 4.2%, but that we still might not be able to get into Parliament," he noted, adding that "I am sorry we tolerate a situation that is obviously not democratic."
Velopoulos was reffering to the broad range of intitial results (exit polls) which had first indicated an electoral performance between the averages of 2.3% and 4.2%, with the threshold being 3%.
With his position in Parliament secured almost from the start of the votes counting process, Velopoulos pointed out that Greek Solution will fight "for Greece and Greeks."
Stella Ladi, a political scientist and associate professor at Queen Mary University in London, said support had become entrenched for the far-right in many European countries.
“After Mitsotakis victory, this is the second most significant outcome of today’s election and it’s where we need to turn our attention over the next few years,” Ladi told the AP.
“We need to understand why a country which was traditionally leaning to the left gave 35 seats to the far right and what can be done to bring voters back to the center without compromising forward thinking and liberal values.”
READ MORE: French President Emmanuel Macron Congratulates Mitsotakis on Reelection.
