Greeks abroad will vote for the first time in the upcoming parliamentary elections in their country of permanent residence. The certification process to approve their participation was highly bureaucratic and in most cases disapproved, with the result that the percentage of expected participants (about 22,800 Greek women) does not reflect the composition of the population of Greek communities abroad. It is necessary to review and simplify the procedure for exercising the constitutional right to vote outside Greece as well. Greeks in the diaspora who also retain Greek citizenship should have the right to vote where they live, just as they have the right to vote if they travel to Greece.

The bureaucratic quagmire chosen for this process goes beyond constitutional legitimacy, as it creates a distinction between Greek citizens regarding the basic right to vote in their country of permanent residence. It was thus an act perpetuating the misappropriation of the Greek diaspora, both by the lack of a long-term and cross-party strategy of successive Greek governments, and by the anemic organization of Hellenistic networks abroad.

It is necessary to review and simplify the procedure for exercising the constitutional right to vote outside Greece as well.

Although the Greek parties have included established diaspora Greeks in their election combinations, so that some of them are expected to be elected to the new parliament, it is disappointing that no party has presented a strategy to exploit the Greek diaspora. Thus, the scattered individual initiatives of governments and the predominantly individual efforts of a part of emigrants to change this situation remain uncoordinated. My many years of participation in the actions of foreign scientists and civil movements convinced me that coordinated planning to use the potential of the Greeks of the diaspora, pioneers in science, art and economics, can only be carried out in the context of a cross-party national strategic plan for the exploitation of the Greek diaspora. This effort to coordinate expatriate action in the context of today’s global culture must start both outside and inside the country.

The willingness of major institutions, confirmed in recent years, to support proposals for strategic planning for the modernization of Greece has laid the foundation for harnessing the potential of the Greek diaspora. The practical interest of the state in the implementation of specific proposals is required. We hope that the new government that will emerge as a result of the elections will want to fill this important gap by developing a national plan for the use of the Greek diaspora, which will use modern technical means and go beyond the obsolete state structures of Greek expatriates that were created in the past without success.

Mr. Nikandros Buras is an honorary professor at King’s College London.