Today is a historic day for the diaspora as for the first time Greeks abroad participate as voters in the national elections from their place of residence, instead of going to Greece.

The 22,825 Greeks who are registered in the special electoral rolls abroad go to the polls, today Saturday, one day before the elections in the Greek territory, from 07:00 to 19:00 local time.

From 9am they vote in the UK

At 9 o’clock Greek time, the voting of the Greeks of the United Kingdom began. 4,938 people have been registered in the Special Electoral Lists, while 12 polling stations have been created throughout the country. Of these eight in London (3,982 registered) and one each in: Edinburgh (282), Glasgow (150), Birmingham (274) and Leeds (250).

More specifically, the polling centers are as follows:

– London: 4 polling stations at the Embassy (1A Holland Park, W11 3TP) and 4 at the Greek School (3 Pierrepoint Rd, W3 9JR West Acton).

– Glasgow: at the Greek School of St. Luke (Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Luke, 27 Dundonald Rd, Glasgow G12 9LL)

– Edinburgh: at the Greek School of St. Andreas of Edinburgh, which is housed in the plot of the old Greek Orthodox Church of Ag. Andreas, 2 Meadow Ln, Edinburg, EH8 9 NR

– Leeds: in the building of the Greek Orthodox Community of Leeds, The three Hierarchs, 57 Harehills Avenue, Leeds LS8 4EU

– Birmingham: at the building of the Hellenic Cypriot Home, (The Midlands Greek and Cypriot Association, Magnet Center Park Approach, Birmingham B23 7SJ)

At the polls the 85 Greeks in Turkey

Since the morning, Greek expatriates from Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia have been coming to the ballot box set up in Istanbul. “The voting has started since 7 in the morning, it is the first time that such an organization has been held in Istanbul. Several have already arrived and others are expected until the evening,” SKAI correspondent Manolis Kostidis reported from Istanbul.

The Consul General of Greece in Istanbul, Georgina Sultanopoulou emphasized that “there are 85 registered from Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Yerevan. So far, 42 expatriates have voted. They are all satisfied that they can vote abroad because, as they say, it is historic to be able to vote where you are and not have to travel. The contents of the ballot box, the special bag will leave tomorrow morning and will be handed over to the Court of Appeal by the supervisor of elections.”

Australia opened the process

With the Greeks living in Australia, the process of Greece’s national elections for 2023 began. The voting went smoothly and no problems were reported.

Of course, attendance was limited. At the polling station set up at the Consulate-General in Melbourne, which covered the states of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, there were believed to be fewer than 100 registered. But it was reported that there were 98 and even fewer (about 77) were registered in electoral rolls of the polling station which operated at the Greek Consulate in Sydney and which covered New South Wales, Queensland and the Capital Territory (ACT).

It was not known if expats from other states traveled to Melbourne for Sydney.

Voting in 85 cities, in 35 countries

Voting takes place in the 99 polling stations set up in 85 cities of 35 countries around the world and in particular, in the buildings of embassies and consulates of the Greek authorities, offices of holy temples of the Greek Orthodox Church and buildings or shops of Greek communities, associations or other Greek organizations. In order to establish a polling station in a city, a condition was the registration of at least 40 voters. In those cities where the required number was not filled, the voters will exercise their right to vote in another city or even country.

More than 4,870 Greek voters are registered in polling stations in the United Kingdom (set up in London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh), 3,326 in Germany (in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Dresden, Hanover, Nuremberg, Aachen, Wuppertal, Cologne, Bielefeld, Dortmund and Ludwigshafen), 1,935 of the Netherlands (The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven), 1,680 of the USA (San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Chicago and Tampa) 1,629 in Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp), 1,462 in Cyprus (in Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos), etc.

For the exact address of the polling station, in which interested parties can vote, they can be informed from the “Learn to Vote” digital platform on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, https://mpp.ypes.gov.gr/#/ by filling in the fields Surname, Name, Father’s Name, Year of Birth, Mother’s Name (optional), or just the Surname and Special Electoral Number fields (if they know it). Alternatively, they can be informed by the telephone lines 2131361500 and 2131313800, which are open 24 hours a day this weekend.

Voters come to their polling station having necessarily with them, as usual, some form of identification such as a Greek identity card (even a cut one) or their Greek passport or driver’s license or individual health booklet of all insurance funds issued by the relevant Greek authorities.

For the first time, voter identification can also be done using the digital identity that is accessible through the government portal https://wallet.gov.gr.

Greek sailors can also vote in the electoral divisions abroad, even if they are not included in the special electoral lists abroad of the electoral divisions. However, they are required to have with them, in addition to an identity card or passport, their Greek naval brochure.

For the vote of the electors, the State ballots of the parties are used and therefore there is no need for preference crosses next to candidate names. However, any “crossed” ballots will be counted as valid.

The votes recorded in the foreign polling stations are counted in the general result for the distribution of the total number of seats allocated to each party, as well as in the result for the distribution of State seats of each party.

The ballots, envelopes, screens and ballot boxes were sent to diplomatic authorities by the Ministry of the Interior and are the same as those that will be used for voting in Greece.

When the polls are closed, the electoral commissions do not make a selection

of ballots and extracting the result of the voting in each polling station. They are limited to counting the folders, without opening them. The electoral bags with the expatriates’ ballots will be gradually transported over the next two days by air to the Greek capital and the Athens Court of Appeal, where they will be opened and the votes will be sorted when the polls close in Greek territory.

It is recalled that in order to be registered in the special foreign electoral rolls, voters (permanently or temporarily) outside the territory must have resided in Greece for a total of two years in the last 35 years and have submitted a tax return in the current or previous tax year. The application is made electronically on the platform of the Ministry of the Interior apodimoi.gov.gr.