Afroditi Latinopoulou: Difference between revisions

Afroditi Latinopoulou (Greek: Αφροδίτη Λατινοπούλου, born 29 April 1991) is a Greek politician, who is going to become Member of the European Parliament in July 2024, and leader of the far-right^[1][2] Voice of Logic party.

Throughout her political career, she has been involved in several controversies related to comments and ultranationalist rhetoric.

Afroditi Latinoopoulou was born on April 29, 1991 in Thessaloniki. She was the first child of a religious family of teachers of secondary education. From her childhood, she was involved in tennis, a sport with which she won 15 Greek championships and 4 European championships. In 2010 it was "number 1067" in ranking of Women's Tennis Association.

Afroditi Latinopoulou was born on April 29, 1991, in Thessaloniki. She was the first child of a religious family of secondary education teachers.^[3] From her childhood, she was involved in tennis, a sport in which she won several titles.^{[citation needed]} In 2010, she was ranked 1067th by the Women's Tennis Association.^[4] Due to a serious injury, her career in the sport ended in 2013.

In the Legislative Elections of 2019, she stood as a candidate for MP in Thessaloniki with the New Democracy.^[5] She received 5,297 votes, finishing in 18th place out of a total of 20 candidates. ^[6]

Afroditi Latinopoulou has been very active on social media, where her posts on political and social issues often conflicted with the official policy of New Democracy. In the summer of 2022, after she made fatphobic comments on the appearance of the Greek TV presenter,^[7] Danae Barka, New Democracy issued a statement and proceeded to ban Latinopoulou from running with the party: "Afroditi Latinoopoulou holds no office or position in the organisational chart of New Democracy, either at the local or central level, and will not be a candidate in the next national elections."^[7]

In August 2022, Afroditi Latinopoulou announced that she would join the "Patriotic Force for Change" a party of Konstantinos Bogdanos ^[8] as Vice President. In March 2023 when Bogdanos, decided to cooperate for a joint election with the Patriots – Prodromos Emfietzoglou, Latinoupoulou disagreed and was removed from the coalition.^[9] On 23 March 2023 she founded her own party, "PATRIDA - Afroditi Latinoopoulou". However, by decision of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece, to which Konstantinos Bogdanos appealed, her new party was excluded from participation in the elections of 21 May 2023 as it was considered that both the name and the symbol of the party were stolen from "Patriotic Force for Change". ^[10]

On 25 May 2024, she announced the renaming of the party as the Voice of Logic - Afroditi Latinopoulou.^[11]

She has repeatedly sparked reactions with her views on women's nature, victim blaming, and human rights, which many Greek journalistic organisations have condemned as hate speech.^[12][13] A notable incident occurred in 2022 when she was banned from running with New Democracy after making comments^[14] about Greek TV presenter Danae Barka.^[15] In 2021, in a similarly controversial incident, she compared homosexuality to paedophilia.^[16][17]

Although the party's manifesto lacks information on economic policy, Latynopoulou's ideology is often described as ultranationalist^[18] and far-right,^[19] a characterisation she rejects. She supports anti-abortion rights,^[20] opposes LGBTQ+ rights, and has expressed transphobic^[21][22] and anti-immigrant views, repeatedly calling for the borders to be closed.^[23] In June 2024, she called for Pride Parade to be dissolved, saying, "It is a celebration of vulgarity, emphasising the sexuality of sadomasochists and other various abnormalities in public view."^[24] She has expressed a desire to collaborate with other European far-right leaders, including Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni.^[25]

In June 2024, she was listed among the 23 most controversial new MEPs in the European Parliament by Politico.^[20]

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