Golden Dawn performs well at polling stations used by police

The extreme-right Golden Dawn appears to have gained on average double the support at polling stations used by police serving in the capital who cannot go home to vote.

At at least three voting stations for police officers as well as other citizens at an election center in Ambelokipi, central Athens, GD – which was third with 9.4 percent at Sunday’s European Parliament polls – obtained well above 20 percent. Conservative coalition leader New Democracy came first at all three stations, but with a tissue-thin margin ranging between 0.27 and 1.64 percent.

GD, which polled less than 0.5 percent in the 2009 European election, came third at the other four stations, which were also used by the general public in the same electoral center, garnering between 16.05 and 19.32 percent, well above its national average.

Meanwhile, at four polling stations at a center in nearby Gyzi used by police officers and special guards serving in the DIAS and DELTA units, GD was second, on between 16.23 and 22.73 percent. The party came third at the other six stations in the same center, although it still received no less than 17.8 percent of the vote.

Several police officers were suspended in October after an internal investigation into suspected links between the force and Golden Dawn, but no signs of “organized cells” affiliated with the organization were discovered. The inquiry was launched after rapper Pavlos Fyssas was murdered by a GD supporter.