In Melbourne, the city with the most Greeks outside Greece and Cyprus, only 93 people registered for the second round of Greek elections to be held June 25 and, in Sydney only 65 have registered.
In the May 21 Greek elections the centre-right New Democracy party led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis failed to gain the prerequisite majority to form government, and given there was no coalition, there is a need to go to the polls again to determine who has the majority. Sunday’s elections differ to May’s – instead of the proportional representation system used in May an enhanced proportional representation will apply, which gives the first party a staggered bonus of up to 50 seats.
Mitsotakis’ centre-right New Democracy party secured almost 41 per cent of the vote, which is five seats short of a majority. The centre-left rival Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party scored a poor result of around 20 per cent. While Mitsotakis says he as “a mandate” to govern he needs to garner enough for a clear majority to form a four-year government.
On Saturday, June 24, Greeks citizens abroad are entitled to vote from their place of residence. By last Friday, the Ministry of Interior had provided the Greek diplomatic authorities in 35 countries around the world with ballot papers to distribute them to the 102 polling stations set up for this purpose.
25,610 people registered on the special electoral rolls abroad, i.e., 2,755 more than in the May elections. The largest number of overseas voters are registered in European cities, namely London (4,414), Brussels (1,716), Amsterdam (1,055), Bern (1,008), Nicosia (893), Paris (836), Berlin (810), Munich (731), The Hague (715) and Luxembourg (665).
Yet, in the jurisdictions with long-standing and large Greek communities, there was an anaemic take-up of the new right vote from place of residence. The key issue seems to be the hurdles set for the right to vote which include the rule that an applicant must have lived for two years of residence in Greece in the last 35 years and, must have submitted a tax return in the current or previous tax year.
In Melbourne, the city with the most Greeks outside Greece and Cyprus, 173,598, based on the 2021 ABS Census, only 93 have registered. In Sydney, only 65 of the approximately 150,000 residents of Greek origin, while in Toronto, Canada, 112 of the 65,000 Greeks will vote.
Electoral process in Australia and New Zealand
Greek citizens resident in Australia and New Zealand, who have successfully registered in the special overseas electoral rolls through the Ministry of Interior’s platform apodimoi.gov.gr are invited to vote for the on Saturday 24 June 2023, from 07.00 to 19.00.
Voting in NSW, Queensland, the ACT and NZ will be held at the premises of the Consulate General of Greece in Sydney – Level 2, 219-223 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000. The election process for residents of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory will be held at the Consulate General of Greece in Melbourne – 37-39 Albert Road, Melbourne Victoria, 3004.
Voters need to bring with them a Greek Identity Card or Greek Passport.
In Greece
9,813,595 Greek citizens are registered to vote of which 4,763,264 are men and 5,050,331 are women. They will exercise their right to vote in one of the 21,634 polling stations that have been set up throughout the country elect the new Parliament on June 25, as they did on May 21.
The ballot papers will be different to those in May, tthe names of members of parliament will not be in alphabetical order, and will be elected based on their ranking on the ballot paper. There is no requirement to put a cross – after all, there will be no pens at the screens.
