Abstention

The majority of Greek citizens spoke through silence and abstained from the recent European election. Voter turnout was just 41%, much lower than that in the June 2023 national election (54%). To interpret this record high abstention rate, one common and one more dramatic explanation have been suggested. The first tells us that the European Parliament elections are not of interest to citizens.

Τhe level of voter abstention hovering close to 60% in the June 9 European elections is no doubt a cause for concern for the country's political establishment. For a measure of comparison, the abstention rate in the previous European elections (May 2019) was just shy of 40%.

Greece's first foray into postal voting ahead of last Sunday's elections for European Parliament has been hailed as a success by the Interior Ministry, though takeup was not as big as expected and there appear to have been some problems with the procedure.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday admitted that the ruling Conservatives fell short of the target set by himself before the European Elections, citing a record abstention and protest vote as possible causes.

In the last exit poll published by the Ministry of Interior, New Democracy is seen securing 27.9% of the vote, five percentage points below the intended 33%.

It should be noted that due to the large abstention, the estimate of the result by Singular Logic, instead of 21:00 on Sunday night, was announced at 20:20

It should be noted that due to the large abstention, the estimate of the result by Singular Logic, instead of 21:00 on Sunday night, was announced at 20:20

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged voters on Friday to participate in Sunday's European Parliament elections, emphasizing the importance of voting amidst concerns of a high abstention rate.

In just six days, voters will head to the polls to elect Greece's representatives in the European Parliament, and the primary concern among all parties is voter abstention.

With the June 9 European elections looming, Greek political parties are concerned about the high rate of abstention of young people aged 17-30, after an analysis of the qualitative data of the postal vote. 

Indicatively, in the two major urban centers of Attica and Thessaloniki, a total of 59,468 voters have registered, of whom only about 10,000 are young people, less than 17%.

NEW YORK - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday evening Serbia's position ahead of a vote on a draft Srebrenica resolution in the UN General Assembly was extremely difficult and that having a high number of abstentions and votes against the document would be a "heroic political success."