Two MPs from far-right Spartiates exit party

Greek lawmakers Georgios Aspiotis and Michalis Gavgiotakis announced on Tuesday that they was leaving the parliamentary group of far-right Spartiates (Spartans) and would serve as independent MPs, in a letter addressed to the House Speaker.

Following their departure Spartiates is left with five MPs while the number of independent lawmakers has risen to eleven. According to Greek law, if the number of party MPs drops below five, they will lose their status as a parliamentary group.

The party has been plagued by infighting and was barred from contesting the European Parliament election earlier this month, because they were considered mere surrogates of the now-defunct criminal organization Golden Dawn.