Top judge quits over legal dispute

A legal dispute involving the government's attempt to prevent a far-right political party from running in the general election scheduled for next month led to the resignation of a vice president of Greece's Supreme Court on Monday. 

One of the 10 vice presidents of the court still in office, judge Christos Tzanerikos submitted his resignation after the government sent a new bill to Parliament that would have excluded the Greeks Party from the May 21 election.

Ilias Kasidiaris, an imprisoned former lawmaker of the far-right Golden Dawn party founded the Greeks Party two years ago. An amendment to the law prohibiting it from running candidates in elections was approved by Parliament in February.

Last week, the party chose a new leader in an effort to circumvent the ban, which prompted the government to propose a new amendment that broadened the ban's application....