Photo: tovima.gr
The decision of three New Democracy’s deputies to vote against the removal of the parliamentary immunity of Golden Dawner Ilias Kasidiaris provoked Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ sharp reaction.
One of the three, namely the party secretary Manolis Kefaloyiannis, is not just a deputy but also a member of the leadership of the staff of the blue. When the Prime Minister was informed of his vote, he was at a meeting. Sources claim, that Antonis Samaras reacted very violently.
Manolis Kefaloyiannis gave the reporters in parliament interesting explanations about his vote. He said he had preferred to vote against in order to provide Ilias Kasidiaris with "the opportunity to apologize in parliament, something that he has not done for months." He added, "If my vote is misapprehended and perceived as an absolution, this is certainly not the case." Kefaloyiannis stressed, "The act of condemning the action is conscious rather than the act of voting."
His vote in support of the Golden Dawn deputy came a few days after the accusations journalist Kostas Vaxevanis from the Hot Doc magazine made against him. According to the article, one of the closest associates of Manolis Kefaloyiannis over the last ten years has been "the person praising the military junta, namely Ilias Filipakopoulous." After his vote in support of Kasidiaris, the journalist urged him to respond to the "revelations presented by the magazine."
"His position in the party requires him to answer the questions and to explain what he will do with the particular associate," says Kostas Vaxevanis.
Another interesting fact is that Manolis Kefaloyiannis chose to give this vote soon after the Prime Minister's speech about the violence of political extremes, in which he declared himself against both the extreme left and the extreme right.
In addition, the secretary violated the party discipline because at a meeting of the parliamentary commission and during the vote of the plenary session, the decision to remove Ilias Kasidiaris’ immunity was explicit. The secretary of the blue parliamentary group Athanasios Bouras even said that Kefaloyiannis and the other two deputies, Yiannis Ioannidis and Yiannis Karambelas, had apparently voted differently than specified by the party.
Manolis Kefaloyiannis, in turn, tried to "correct" his act, although he did not admit his guilt. He said he was against violence irrespective of the attacker, but also added that the parliamentary party secretary expressed his own position as a deputy.
A little later, the party began a discussion that Manolis Kefaloyiannis should resign. A large number of blue deputies argue that he cannot continue to be the party secretary after his vote in support of Ilias Kasidiaris, whose immunity has been removed for beating Communist Party deputy Liana Kanelli during a live TV broadcast.
Ultimately, however, it has been decided that Manolis Kefaloyiannis will continue to take the secretarial post in the party. As stated by sources from the New Democracy headquarters, his term will expire in June and the debate about the name of the next party secretary is already underway.
The other two blue deputies also tried to explain the "sense" of their votes.
Yiannis Karambelas said, "I made a mistake. If the vote were now, I'd vote for the removal of Ilias Kasidiaris’ immunity. I wanted to send a message to society that it was not enough for a close circle to condemn his actions but that the whole of society should anathemize them. I committed an error and I am assuming the responsibility for it."
Deputy Minister of Sport Yiannis Ioannidis did attempt to dispel the negative impression caused by his vote by saying, "I was mistaken to vote in this way. I voted "no" although I wanted to vote "yes" being aware of what had happened."
There was criticism of PASOK’s Dimitris Kremastinos, who had abstained and then justified himself by saying that he had arrived in the plenary hall after the start of the vote and he had not understood what the vote was about.
It is worth noting that the vote for the removal of parliamentary immunity is an open and a roll-call vote and that each voter writes his or her name on the ballot, with which he or she votes.