Athens Bar Association Accuses ELSTAT of Criminal Deception

 The Athens Bar Association (DSA) has just released a memorandum declaring the recent Greek general election void because of an out-of-date census having been used…and hints darkly at the ulterior motives of (the national statistical organisation) ELSTAT originally found to have been complicit in the plot to disguise Greece’s true fiscal position in its reports to the European Commission in 2008.

In a nutshell, the 2011 census was not used last week: the June 17th election seats-per-constituency allocation was based on the 2001 census…now over a decade out of date.

The DSA release follows:

IOANNIS ADAMOPOULOS

President of the Athens Bar Association (DSA).
EXTREMELY SERIOUS CONSTITUTIONAL FAILURE
‘The number of parliament members for every constituency being defined by presidential decree based on the legal population of the constituency that results according to the latest census, the results of the latest census are considered published based on the data gathered by the relevant services, one year after the date the census actually took place”.
In this case, the last census was completed by the National Committee of Statistics (ELSTAT) on 24th May 2011 – a date which is official, and confirmed beyond any doubt by a press release from ELSTAT.
Therefore, as a year has already passed since the last day of the completion of the above mentioned census,  the number of parliamentary seats in every constituency should be defined based on the legal population of these constituencies, as derived, according to this census.’
In fact, the 2001 census data was used.

The release continues:

‘An extremely serious constitutional failure has occurred, as we estimate that substantial changes have occurred in the population distribution in every constituency in comparison with the previous census of 2001.
Not only the redistribution of the parliamentary seats in every constituency but also the redefinition of parliamentary representation of every party, is possibly at risk. In view of all the above, the DSA expresses its deep institutional concern regarding the risk of an acute constitutional crisis which is expected to cause damage to the function of the democratic institutions.’
But the real sting is in this final paragraph:
‘This is, of course, not the first time that actions or omissions by ELSTAT required further investigation and criminal evaluation. We remind readers that already, since 29th September 2011, DSA has filed a law suit with regard to very serious offences committed by ELSTAT concerning the illegal overstatement of the revised deficit of 2009 to 15.4%, as a result of which we now see the subjection of Greece to the current Memorandum and the subsequent imposition of austerity and other measures on the Greek People.’

Source - The Slog