Members of the Western Australian Greek community claim that Eleni Evangel’s historic win in the WA elections last weekend was due to the opposition’s support of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and the Greek Community banding together to vote against John Hyde.
The former secretary of the Hellenic Community and present councillor of the city of Perth for eight years, Ms Evangel is the first Greek Australian to be elected into state parliament in Western Australia after a historic win in Saturday’s WA elections. The overall swing against John Hyde, holder of the seat, was 10.30 per cent with members of the Greek community claiming it was due to Mr Hyde’s support for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Ms Evangel received 48.8 per cent of the votes over Mr Hyde’s 36.8 per cent. The Liberal candidate took a very strong Labor seat that has been held in WA for nearly 40 years.
A source told Neos Kosmos that members of the Greek Australian community purposely voted against Mr Hyde for becoming involved in international issues against Greece. This prompted the Pan Macedonian Association of WA together with the Hellenic Council of WA to write to Mr Hyde in protest of his public support for FYROM, and his support for the former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith to have Australia change its position on the naming of FYROM debate.
Following the letter, the secretary of the Hellenic Council of WA, Con Berbatis, and the President of the Florina Association of WA and Deputy President of the Pan Macedonian Association, Vic Toutountzis then visited the offices of Mr Hyde to further their complaint and warn him that the Greek community intended to make this an election issue to which they claimed he “arrogantly ignored requests”.
A movement like this has similarities to when the Greek Australian community voted against the former MP Ron Edwards, Member for Stirling, for his support of the FYROM issue causing him to lose his seat in 1993.
The Liberal Party celebrated a landslide victory over their Labor counterparts, with Labor conceding defeat and motioning to the current state of the Federal Labor Party as the reason behind their momentous defeat.
The other four Greek Australian candidates in the WA elections – Jim Bivoltsis George Levissianos, Michael Georgiou and Peter Katsambanis – were not elected.