On the way to May 21 Polls the country is moving. This is the 20th post-colonial national election and the 67th since the establishment of the Greek state.

The upcoming competition will be held under a simple proportional electoral system based on the electoral law adopted in 2016. According to it, parties that overcome the 3% barrier will be proportionally distributed 285 seats, depending on the percentage of votes they received. A further 12 seats will come from a state vote, with the remaining three seats elected for the first time by Greeks abroad.

If the government is not formed and we are led to a repeat election on July 2, we will vote according to the strengthened proportional system adopted by Parliament in 2020. In this case, the first party, if it reaches more than 25%, receives a bonus of 20 seats, which increase depending on the percentage, a maximum of 50 seats if its percentage is 40%.

There are 9,810,040 people registered on the voter lists, of which 4,760,042 are men and 5,049,998 are women. For the first time, 438,595 young people aged 17 to 21 will take part in the voting. Those born in 2006 are eligible to vote.

Citizens can be informed about the place where they vote through the platform of the Ministry of the Interior “Know where you vote” (https://www.ypes.gr/mathe-poy-psifizeis-forma/) by entering their personal information.

Greeks Abroad

In these elections, for the first time, Greeks abroad who meet the conditions established by law have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote in their place of residence. 22,816 foreigners whose applications have been approved will vote on Saturday, May 20, at 99 polling stations established in 35 countries around the world. These are Egypt (Cairo), Australia (Melbourne, Sydney), Austria (Vienna, Salzburg), Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp), Bulgaria (Sofia), France (Paris, Strasbourg, Nice, Nantes), Germany (Hamburg, Berlin, Munich , Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Dresden, Hannover, Nuremberg, Aachen, Wuppertal, Cologne, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Ludwigshafen), Denmark (Copenhagen), Switzerland, (Bern, Geneva, Lausanne), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi), UK (London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh) USA (St. Francis, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Chicago, Tampa), Ireland (Dublin), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona), Italy (Rome, Milan, Venice), Canada (Montreal, Toronto), Qatar (Doha), Korea (Seoul), Cyprus (Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos), Lithuania (Vilnius, Kaunas), Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Malta ( Valletta) ), Norway (Oslo), South Africa (Johannesburg), Netherlands (The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven), Poland (Warsaw), Portugal (Lisbon), Romania (Bucharest), Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), Singapore (Singapore), Sweden (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö), Turkey (Istanbul), Czech Republic (Prague) and Finland (Helsinki).

The UK has the highest number of approved applications (4,556), followed by Germany (3,226), the US (1,617), Belgium (1,607) and Cyprus (1,432).

96% of foreign voters will exercise their right to vote in their country of permanent residence, and the rest (4%) will be forced to move to another, as the required number of 50 voters to create a polling station has not been recruited. . This event caused dissatisfaction mainly among the inhabitants of Northern Epirote, who will have to move to a country located farther from Greece, namely Bulgaria, to vote.

Uniform – sailors

Registration on special electoral rolls is also required in the case of military personnel serving in the armed forces or the Coast Guard – Hellenic Coast Guard, as well as the personnel of the Hellenic Police and Fire Department, in order to vote in parliamentary elections for the place where they serve, if it is different on whose lists of voters they are registered. In this case, they are required to declare to their office the municipality in which they are registered, in order to be included in the applications sent to the competent Deputy Governor.

Similarly, sailors serving on a Greek-flagged ship that is in a Greek port on election day are registered on special electoral rolls for voting in the municipality where the ship is located.

Also, Greek citizens who are imprisoned and not disenfranchised vote in the electoral department of the store where they are held, on the basis of special electoral lists in which they are registered for this purpose.

Sections for the disabled

Through these elections, people with disabilities will be able to exercise their right to vote with less inconvenience. The provision of the latest bill, passed before the closing of parliament, provides for the operation of a reception and support zone for voters with disabilities and limited mobility in each polling station.

The court representative traveling there is informed about the arrival of the voter at the venue, providing him with all the ballots and the necessary case. If necessary, the voter goes to the screen together with his companion, if he has one, as well as with the legal representative. After the voter leaves the voting booth, the legal representative takes the envelope with the ballot paper chosen by the voter, delivers it to the appropriate polling station and puts it into the ballot box.

Entrance to the polling station and the reception area is allowed along with a service dog (guide dog) for people with disabilities.

Earlier transmission of results

The method of collecting and transmitting results on election night has been modernized, significantly reducing the time to obtain a reliable result. Until today, telegrams with the results of each polling station were sent to the municipality, from there to the region, and then to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the data was entered into the central system.

From the upcoming elections, each legal representative will have a tablet through which he will transmit directly to the ministry the results of his polling station after the end of the vote count. Thus, it is calculated that at 20:00, i.e. an hour after the polls close, there will be a safe result in 25% of the states, and at 20:30 – 21:00 – in 80%. The traditional system for reporting preliminary results will continue to be used for security and cross-validation purposes.

^{Source: APE-MEB}