Last week before the Parliamentary Elections and the state machinery is completing the preparatory actions necessary so that everything will be ready when the polls open next Sunday, May 21.

It is recalled that the place of exercising the right to vote is announced through the digital platform “Find out where you vote» located on Gov.gr and on the website of the Ministry of the Interior (www.ypes.gr) or by calling 2131361500 from 08:00 to 20:00.

The vote of Greeks abroad

One day earlier, the voting of the 22,816 Greeks registered in the special electoral rolls will take place. Voting in each of the 99 polling stations set up in 85 cities 35 countries around the world, will take place before an electoral committee, which will consist of the representative of the judicial authority, as president, and three voters from those included in the special foreign electoral lists.

As polling stations, buildings of the Greek authorities, offices of holy temples of the Greek Orthodox Church and buildings or shops of Greek communities, clubs or other Greek organizations are mainly used.

For the voting of voters abroad, State ballots are used and therefore do not mark a preference cross next to the name of the candidates. When the polls are closed, the electoral commissions count the files, without opening them.

The election bags with the expatriates’ ballots will be transported the next day by air to “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport and from there, accompanied by the Police, to the Athens Court of Appeal, where they will be opened and the votes will be sorted when the polls close in Greek territory.

The… election protocol

The parties had until the day before yesterday Friday to hand over to the deputy regional governors of the regional unit of the seat of each prefecture, a sufficient number of their ballots, in order for the latter to supply the election commissions with a number of ballots that exceeds by at least 10% the number of registered, in each electoral division, electors.

Voting is conducted in each electoral division before a five-member electoral committee, consisting of the judicial representative, as chairman, and four members. Since the polling stations across the country are 21,529, this means that an equal number of representatives of the judiciary and over 86,000 are required as members of electoral commissions, not counting their deputies.

The judicial representatives were selected by lottery, in a public meeting, held last Wednesday, by the A1 Department of the Supreme Court. These persons are notified by the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court five days before the vote, that is until tomorrow, while they must be at the place of their appointment on the following Thursday.

The members of the electoral commissionswith an equal number of substitutes, are drawn or appointed within 15 days from the start of the pre-election period, by the relevant Court of First Instance, among the voters registered in the electoral rolls of the municipality to which the electoral division belongs and are notified of their appointment also by tomorrow.

The polling stations and polling stations are defined by a decision of the deputy regional governor of the regional unit of the county headquarters, which allocates the voters to the polling stations, no later than 10 days after the start of the pre-election period.

The Ministry of the Interior sends them electoral files to the relevant deputy governors, who must hand them over to the municipal authorities and who, in turn, supply the electoral committees of all electoral divisions. The same ministry takes care of supplying the voting booths throughout the country with ballot boxes and screens, as well as the electoral bags. In them are placed all the electoral materials, which include the books (minutes) of the voting, the candidates’ ballots and the blanks, the electoral roll, the forms of certificates of voters and absent voters, the responsible declaration forms of double-registered voters, the stamp of the electoral commission, the result entry forms (telegrams) and a tablet device for transmitting the results.

The electoral material a municipal employee gives to the judicial representative, at the place of voting, on the eve of the elections. On the following day, one hour before the polls open, i.e. at 06:00 in the morning, the members of the electoral committee must be at the polling place, in order to receive from the mayor or the member of the municipal council appointed by him or a municipal employee, the voting shop, ballot boxes, furniture and utensils and other electoral items.

Immediately afterwards, the electoral committee appoints a secretary to write the minutes, proceeds, in the presence of the candidates or representatives of the combinations, to prepare the room for the voting, places the ballot box in front of its table, takes care of the arrangement of the ballots of the combinations on the table, and installs the screens. Subsequently, the electoral committee and the candidates or the representatives of the combinations, open and check the ballot box, in order to determine whether it is empty. The ballot box is then closed and sealed by the committee, while the judicial representative activates the results transmission device.

Minutes are drawn up for all the actions signed by the president and the members of the electoral committee and the candidates or the representatives of the combinations. Then the president of the electoral committee announces the start of voting and the attendance of voters begins.