Melas' decision to leave ANEL follows a previous statement where he said that when the Greek President's election will take place, MPs must act according to their conscience. This was not received well by his party leader Panos Kammenos who reacted immediately against his statement.
Melas criticized Kammenos' reaction, and while speaking to a local Greek radio station he also slammed ANEL MP Stavroula Xoulidou's statements last week which left it to be understood that he had accepted a bribe to vote for the candidate that the coalition government is planning to introduce in the upcoming Presidential Election.
Currently there are 24 independent deputies in the Greek Parliament.