Former New Democracy MEP candidate Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou has confirmed that she received a list of email addresses of Greek voters living abroad from an official of the New Democracy party, thus violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
In a scandal that has been dubbed “Email-gate” in Greece, Asimakopoulou has been accused of illegally obtaining voters contact information and sending them unsolicited emails to advertise her candidacy for the 10th European Parliament elections.
The revelation led to Asimakopoulou dropping out of the race for MEP in mid-March and two New Democracy officials linked to the incident resigning on March 15.
The two officials are General Secretary of the Interior Ministry Michalis Stavrianoudakis and the secretary for diaspora affairs Nikos Theodoropoulos, both New Democracy officials.
In Asimakopoulou’s statement confirming that she indeed received the emails from officials, she also noted that the data did not include tax or social insurance numbers.
Media reports note that Greek voters who were victims of the breach are seeking compensation for the violation of their personal data.
Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou was a New Democracy MEP for the 9th European Parliament Session and member of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats).
