The second reading of the draft law of the Ministry of the Interior “Election of MEPs, facilitation of voters through postal voting, clearing of electoral rolls and other provisions of the Ministry of the Interior” was completed in the competent parliamentary committee.

In principle, New Democracy, SYRIZA, PASOK declare “yes”. “No” declare KKE and “Niki”. Greek Solution, “Spartiates”, New Left and Freedom Sailing have declared a reservation for their final position in the Plenary. Shortly before the conclusion of the debate, however, the special buyer of the New Left, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, requested that it be recorded that his party will vote against the bill in principle.

On the issue raised by the opposition parties, i.e. on whether, with the introduction of postal voting in the European elections, the requirements of the Constitution (Article 51) regarding immediacy, secrecy and the simultaneous holding of elections are respected, the minister of the Interior, Niki Kerameos, said that the scope of application of the constitutional provision concerns exclusively the domestic legal order, exclusively the nomination of national bodies, while the bill establishes the postal vote in the European elections.

On the issue raised by the opposition, regarding the need to set restrictions on the establishment of postal voting for voters within the territory, Mrs. Kerameos once again reversed the question.

“Why put restrictions? Why should we provide for every possible version of a voter who will be able to vote by mail, which will surely leave some people out of the legislative provision and ultimately that someone will not be able to vote? Shall we think of all categories of people? Transport workers? Hospital workers? Media workers? Will we think of them all? Why go and limit them? We are going to increase participation, we are going to make it easier for Greek citizens to vote. For this very reason, we consider it of major importance, in this effort which is supra-party, national, democratic, an effort to deepen democracy, not to put up barriers but to facilitate whoever wants to be facilitated”, he said Mrs. Kerameos and informed the members of the Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice that the ministry is already processing the proposals submitted by parties and agencies, in order to incorporate them into the bill. In this climate, the ministry has decided to incorporate many of the “technical notes” of the Personal Data Protection Authority, as well as proposals from parties and agencies.

The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Thodoris Livanios, spoke about how to change the distribution of seats. “Let’s suppose that in the European elections we had the results of May 2023. And let’s suppose that the second party got the percentage it got in June, i.e. 18%. You know what would happen? The Hellenic Solution with 4.5% would get three seats and the KKE with 7.5% would get two seats. This is the problem. A party with almost double the percentage to get one seat less than the fourth party”, noted Mr. Livanios. In relation to the 3% limit, he said that it is an issue that “has been exhausted in the public debate for 31 years”, and is fully compatible with EU law and Regulation and is considered a sufficient percentage that gathers the approval of a critical part of the Electoral College, in order for a combination to be entitled to a seat.

The bill to introduce postal voting in European elections and national referendums will be introduced to the Plenary next Monday, January 22, with planning to exhaust its debate in up to three sittings, if a third day is required. The political leaders are expected to take the floor in the debate, with the most likely day of their interventions next Tuesday, January 23.