SYRIZA MEP candidate drops out of race after furor over conviction

A candidate with ruling SYRIZA in the upcoming European parliamentary elections dropped out of the race on Friday following a public outcry over the fact that she has been convicted of fraud against the state.

Myrsini Loizou, 53, was handed a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence in February 2017 for reportedly cashing the pension of her deceased mother over more than five years, costing the state more than 50,000 euros.

Her decision to drop out the race for a seat in the European Parliament on the SYRIZA ticket came in the wake of calls from the opposition for her resignation after media reports emerged early on Friday exposing her criminal record.

In a public resignation letter, Loizou, who is best known as the daughter of the late and celebrated singer-songwriter Manos Loizos, claimed that the media reports concerning her mother's pension were inaccurate but that in any case, she had not tried to her wrongdoing.

She also accused opposition New Democracy of “shifting the agenda from the political to the personal.”