Absentee ballot

Greeks and other Europeans are deeply curious about the November 5 US elections. Most of them recognize that the outcome of these elections will affect their country and themselves personally. Many of them say they wish the international community had a vote.

On Sunday, 9,796,330 Greek citizens will be eligible to vote in the elections for the European Parliament.

Greece elects 21 MEPs in the 720-member Parliament.

A total of 18,380 polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting hours may be extended in individual stations if there is a waiting line at closing time.

The PM stressed that absentee voting is not only for Greeks living abroad, but for every Greek citizen who wants to vote without requiring physical presence - "We already have more than 115,000 applications."

More than 114,200 voters have registered for mail-in balloting in the June 9 European Parliament elections, surpassing last year's turnout from abroad, according to Greece's Interior Ministry. 

Participation is expected to increase further as the platform enters its final week of operation. 

An amendment broadening the postal voting regulations has been proposed to Parliament as part of the Health Ministry's legislation and is scheduled for a plenary vote on Thursday. 

Greek diaspora representatives have requested the expansion of postal voting rights for national elections, while speaking in a parliamentary committee.

The mail-in ballot will be used for the first time in Greece at the European Parliament elections in June, after its vote in parliament, the government said.

The relevant bill by the Interior Ministry has been posted for public consultation until January 10, and will be tabled in parliament shortly after.

The introduction of the postal vote announced at a cabinet meeting in Athens on Thursday by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seen as an effective tool against absentee ballots. 

More than 54 million people on May 14 dropped their votes in over 197,000 ballot boxes set up across the country for the presidential runoff elections.

Though the voting process ended at 5 p.m., citizens waiting to cast ballots at polling booths during the deadline voted in turns under the supervision of attendants.

Voting ended at the diplomatic missions abroad on May 24 for the presidential election runoff, slated for May 28 at home, while citizens abroad can still cast their votes at border gates.

The Supreme Election Council (YSK) has reinstalled ballot boxes at 167 points in 151 representative offices across 73 countries for the runoff election.