A Greek political party critics call anti-Semitic gained 10 parliamentary seats in national elections this weekend.
Giorgos Karatzaferis’ Popular Orthodox Alarm becomes the first extreme-right party to enter the 300-seat parliament in 33 years.
A January 2005 report on global anti-Semitism by the U.S. State Department described the party as supporting a ”virulent nationalism, anti-Semitism, racism,” and reported that its leader “regularly attributes negative events involving Greece to international Jewish plots.”
Karatzaferis, however, has tried to change his party’s image and denies he is racist or anti-Semitic.
Analysts have attributed the party’s gain to a backlash against the weakened but still ruling conservative New Democracy Party in wake of the recent wildfires that swept the country and killed 67 people.
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