(Bloomberg) -- Greek lawmakers approved a law late Wednesday that will prevent political parties whose leaders have been convicted of serious criminal offenses from participating in elections. 

The law will also prevent parties from having behind-the-scenes persons exercising power through elected individuals. Greece’s Supreme Court is responsible for applying the country’s electoral law and the new provisions will take effect as of the upcoming elections. 

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has repeatedly said that the next general election will take place in April or May. 

Elias Kasidiaris, a former lawmaker of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party who is in jail, has established a new nationalist party called “Greeks for the Fatherland.” The party currently garners about 3% of the vote in recent polls, the threshold for entering parliament. 

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