Σπαρτιάτες / Spartiátes (Spartans)
The Spartans are a far-right party that entered the Greek parliament in June 2023 with 4.64 percent of the vote and 12 seats, having been propelled by the behind-the-scenes influence of Ilias Kasidiaris, a convicted Golden Dawn leader serving a 13-year prison sentence for running a criminal organisation. The party’s formal leader is listed as Vasilis Stigas but was widely understood to function as a vehicle for Kasidiaris’s political ambitions. Subsequent legal proceedings have dramatically weakened the party’s parliamentary standing: the Supreme Court barred the Spartans from the June 2024 European Parliament elections over their hidden ties to Kasidiaris; the Special Highest Court annulled the elections of three Spartans MPs in June 2025 for deceiving voters about the party’s real leadership, reducing Parliament to 297 seats; and the Hellenic Parliament suspended the party’s state funding in January 2025. The Spartans represent the most direct institutional successor to Golden Dawn to have achieved parliamentary representation, and their legal trajectory confirms the severity of the democratic integrity concerns they raise.
Disinformation and alternative media
The Spartans and their associated networks operate within the far-right information ecosystem connected to Golden Dawn’s legacy, including nationalist online platforms, social media channels and some regional media sympathetic to the movement. Communications regularly amplify anti-immigrant, anti-EU and conspiratorial content, and the party made extensive use of Kasidiaris’s ability to direct messaging from prison via proxies and social media accounts. Research on far-right media in Greece identifies this ecosystem as a consistent producer and amplifier of inflammatory and misleading content. Disinformation/alternative media DMI risk is high.
Foreign influence and external alignments
Golden Dawn, from which the Spartans directly emerged, had documented contacts with Russian political actors and was associated with Kremlin-friendly narratives, though direct party financing from foreign state sources was not conclusively proven in domestic courts. The Spartans have inherited this ideological and network landscape. Their sovereigntist, anti-NATO and pro-Russian-adjacent positioning on Ukraine and Western sanctions aligns with broader European far-right currents with documented Russian connections. Foreign influence DMI risk is high.
Media capture, advertising and public service media
The Spartans have no institutional capacity to influence public broadcasting or major media governance given their diminished parliamentary standing and funding suspension. Their media presence operates through the far-right digital ecosystem rather than through institutional leverage. Media capture, advertising and PSB-control DMI risk is low.
Corruption, litigation and institutional integrity
The Spartans’ institutional integrity profile is severely compromised by their foundational connection to a convicted criminal organisation and the subsequent judicial findings against them. The Special Highest Court’s June 2025 ruling that three MPs had deceived voters about the party’s real leadership, a finding of deliberate institutional fraud toward the electorate, represents one of the most serious integrity failures in contemporary Greek parliamentary history. Parliamentary funding has been suspended. Court proceedings confirming that the party was effectively directed by a convicted criminal from prison are without parallel in current EU parliamentary politics. DMI corruption and institutional integrity risk is high.
Press freedom, harassment and treatment of media
The far-right ecosystem associated with the Spartans and their Golden Dawn heritage has a documented history of aggressive targeting and physical intimidation of journalists, particularly those covering migration, the far right and anti-fascist movements. Kasidiaris himself used online platforms from prison to direct rhetorical attacks against critics and journalists. The party’s supporters have engaged in organised online harassment of critical media figures. No reform of this pattern has been documented. Press freedom and harassment DMI risk is high.
| Dimension | Risk level | Short justification |
|---|---|---|
| Disinformation & alternative media | High | Operates within Golden Dawn-linked far-right ecosystem; consistent producer of inflammatory and misleading content; Kasidiaris directed messaging from prison via proxies. |
| Foreign influence & external alignments | High | Inherits Golden Dawn’s Russian-adjacent network and Kremlin-friendly positioning; sovereigntist anti-NATO stance; documented foreign-actor contacts in predecessor organisation. |
| Media capture & advertising / PSB control | Low | No institutional leverage over PSB or media governance; funding suspended; presence confined to far-right digital ecosystem. |
| Corruption & institutional integrity risk | High | Founded as vehicle for convicted criminal leader; Special Highest Court found MPs deceived voters about real leadership; parliamentary funding suspended; no comparable integrity failure in current EU parliament. |
| Press freedom & harassment of media | High | Far-right ecosystem has documented record of journalist intimidation; Kasidiaris directed online attacks from prison; organised harassment of critical media figures. |