Monarchists and political parties favoring a monarchist restoration have been banned from participating in elections in Greece. In fairness if I were a republican with the track record of the Greek government I would probably do something like that too. For the record several overtly Communist parties were also barred from the elections.
Details here.
HT: Wilson Unplugged
Imitating Christ: Being a Stranger and Sojourner
14 hours ago
6 comments:
Why don't they just consult with Brussels and mark the ballots in advance?
FYI - among the communist parties of the world that used to be in the comintern, there is a growing split between those that want to "rehabilitate" Stalin and venerate him as a model for communists, and those parties which very much do not want to do this. The KKE in Greece, one of the strongest communist parties in the Western world, is at the forefront of those parties which want to rehabilitate Stalin. The KKE's leader, Αλέκα Παπαρήγα, is pro-Stalin in the extreme. I also learned recently that she pulls in a nice 120,000 euros a year in total income. The KKE routinely gets 5-10% of the vote in Greece, and is/was polling higher recently, and they are more influential than any other political group with regard to the organization of protests in Greece, which has given them increased clout to an extent, but there is a lot of bad blood toward the KKE generally because of their being seen as strong-arming other leftist parties and their manipulation of trade union activities and organizations in a manner that is seen as especially corrupt, and, from what I gather, to actually be noted for corruption in Greece means there must be the mother load of corruption going on. They were against the referendum, but for early elections. Following classic Stalinist strategy, they want to work within the parliamentary system to take power, and they want parliamentary systems to be as powerful as possible so that "when" they overtake them they will be in a stronger position. We'll see if they still have much faith in the parliamentary system if the ban on their participation holds.
Meant to say, John, thanks for being on top of this and reporting it, and ochlophobist for the very informative comment!
A restoration of barbarian poseurs? The Finance Ministry in Athens is already full of their Sturmbannführer cousins. A return of the panzers would be a denouement.
An interesting article on the KKE here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/us-greece-communists-idUSBRE83P0WW20120426
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