Fiasco: only 3,500 register for vote as Greeks abroad

Only 3,500 Greek nationals living outside Greece have registered to vote in Greece, which may result in the abolishment of the three diaspora candidates. The low numbers may result in the diaspora nominations for members of parliament being cut.

The lack of interest is no surprise as the 2019 legislation passed in Greek parliament allowing expats to vote is encumbered by many restrictions. Few are willing to jump through the hoops for the right to vote.

Neos Kosmos believes that nationals living abroad should be able to vote in the countries where they live and not have to be in Greece to vote. Greece is one of the few nations that has made it difficult for nationals living abroad to vote in their nation’s elections.

Currently those eligible to vote must have had a two-year stay in Greece for the last 35 years and those over 30 must be tax-registered in Greece. Until 2019 Greece was the only country in Europe, and perhaps the entire western world, where full citizens living abroad are denied the right to vote in Greek elections from the country of their residence, either by casting a ballot at the Greek embassy or through postal voting.

Australian citizens living overseas simply go to the Australian embassy, or high commission and lodge their vote during federal elections.

There has been an active campaign by Greek political parties to thwart the right of Greek citizens living abroad to vote in national elections. The mainly left parties, fear the expat votes may have a negative impact on their electoral bottom line.

The left-wing SYRIZA party, has been critical and argue that hundreds of thousands of Greeks abroad who might be eligible to vote will, “alter the will of the Greek people”.

The communist KKE party is aligned to Syriza on this issue. KKE and SYRIZA refuse to make it easier for Greeks to exercise their right to vote for Greek elections from the countries where they live.

Neos Kosmos believes that SYRIZA and KEE are attempting to stop their own constituents living abroad from exercising a natural democratic right.

The conservative governing New Democracy party is now less enthusiastic than it was prior to taking office. New Democracy assistant health minister, recently in Melbourne, spoke of how Greeks who vote from outside Greece may “alter the will of the people.”

The low registration of Greek nationals – out of hundreds of thousands living abroad – has now spooked the main political parties. The fear is that the diaspora is turning their backs on Greece due to a cumbersome law.

Neos Kosmos views the law as patronising. It assumes that Greek nationals living outside Greece are ignorant of Greek politics and are unable to make informed decisions. Greece can ill afford to alienate the diaspora, particularly as it relies on it for political support in the United States and Australia.

The possibility of changing the law on the election of deputies from the diaspora was left open by the Minister of the Interior, Makis Voridis, when he spoke to Greek TV station ANT1.

The minister said he will try to inform the diaspora again, while he holds another round of discussions with all of Greece’s political parties. To change the law with immediate effect, the vote of 200 MPs is required.

“Of the 3500 applications 2,700 have been approved. There will be a new campaign to inform the people abroad as we get closer to the elections, but the numbers are small, here we must do some thinking,” Voridis said.

The law passed in December 2019 for the “vote of expatriates” from their place of residence, excludes 85 per cent of expatriates. It is laden with a barrage of conditions on the diaspora’s right to vote in their country of residence.

In 2021 Voridis tried to lift some of the restrictions but his attempts were torpedoed by SYRIZA and KKE. Now, only 3,500 registered voters, out of hundreds of thousands living outside Greece, may elect three members of parliament, and this will be a genuine distortion of the will of the people.

The law states that each party must propose a candidate from the electoral lists abroad in one of the first three positions on the national ballot. ND and SYRIZA will elect three or more state deputies, while PASOK will have up to two.

This means that two members of parliament will be elected from by expatriates, if PASOK puts its own candidate in third place.

A formula is being sought to achieve the necessary consensus from the opposition parties to change the relevant provision as it is required to gather 200 votes. Among the considerations that exist is to require a minimum number of people registered on the electoral rolls abroad to elect a member of parliament from the diaspora.

If this is changed then the seats in A’ Athens, Achaia and the South sector of Athens, the regions from which one seat is removed to add those of expatriates, will not be affected.