Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaking at a Hellenic American Chamber (HAC) event last week, said New Democracy will have a candidate in Australia in the upcoming European elections.

“It is our obligation in the European election ballots to ensure that we have representatives from the expatriate community – from the USA, from Canada, from Australia – who will be able to mobilise our fellow citizens to vote from those countries where we have a large diaspora presence,” said Mitsotakis.

The Greek prime minister was in a discussion with Hellenic American Chamber president Nikolaos Bakatselos at an event titled Fostering a Sustainable Economic Future Amidst Global Challenges.

Below was an extract of the discussion:

Nikos Bakatselos: Prime Minister, introducing absentee voting is a significant reform that recognises Greek citizens abroad, so how do you see their representation and participation?

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis: I am pleased because 50 years after the restoration of our democracy in 1974, we have achieved a significant reform in electoral legislation.

I remind you that the postal vote in European elections concerns not only Greeks who live abroad but also all those who choose to vote by postal ballot within our country.

The reform is significant for many of our fellow citizens, such as older people, those with disabilities, people who have mobility issues, and final-year high school students taking their national exams who will not want to take time out of their studies to go and vote.

It is a fundamental reform and a profoundly democratic one, which responds to the significant issue – not only of Greek democracy but of all Western democracies, which are seeing high absenteeism during elections [Greece, unlike Australia, does not have compulsory voting].

I want to ask everyone from Greece and abroad if the relevant platform will be opened in the next ten days so that anyone who wishes can register. It is a simple process.

We are responsible for ensuring that we have representatives from the diaspora community in the USA, Canada, and Australia for the European elections. They can mobilise our fellow citizens to vote from those countries where we have a significant Greek presence.

There was a debate in the House over our initiative to extend postal voting for national elections for those living outside Greece because, for those living in Greece, there is a constitutional issue about whether we can do it. However, I found the attitude of the opposition parties, who invoked procedural issues to block the amendment, hypocritical.

I assure everyone that after the postal vote has been tested and proven effective, I am confident that we should extend the option of postal voting to Greek citizens residing abroad for the next Greek national election.