By Yannis Anifantis

The revocation of the broad consensus that had been reached between the governing majority and opposition parties on the bill for postal voting in the European elections and referendums was led by the second thoughts caused by SYRIZA and PASOK over the amendment of the Ministry of the Interior on the extension of postal voting and in the national elections for expatriates, with the government’s effort being led with mathematical precision to the “vacuum”, as 200 positive votes are required.

SYRIZA and PASOK accuse the government of undermining the consensus, with Niki Kerameos clarifying that the amendment does not grant “any new right to vote”, stressing that “we considered it our duty to submit an additional act, separate from the draft law, so that it could each member of parliament to position himself separately on the bill and on the amendment”.

“The opposition proved to be consistent, the government proved to be both inadequate and inconsistent”, Sokratis Famellos argued from the Plenary floor, with the main opposition party making a 180-degree turn and declaring that it would vote against both legislative initiatives, even re-submitting the amendment he had proposed in July 2023 to create four constituencies.

“It is obvious that there will be no SYRIZA vote,” clarified the president of the SYRIZA-PS K.O., with the Minister of the Interior raising the gauntlet and wondering “how is it that your president is an expatriate, defending the more active role of expatriates and suddenly back off the stance and say a big no’.

PASOK is also on the path to vote against the bill, with Nikos Androulakis setting as conditions for a positive stance on the principle, the withdrawal of the amendment as well as the modification of the provisions on the postal ballot in the European elections, so that within the territory only specific categories (elderly, students, seasonal workers) and not all voters.

The withdrawal of the bill as well as the amendment was requested from the floor of the Plenary by the General Secretary of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoubas, with the president of the K.O. SYRIZA and PASOK, claiming that the support of the two parties “opened the way for extreme tacticalism” on the part of the government.

Kyriakos Velopoulos accused Niki Kerameos of election rigging, arguing against the postal vote, with the SPARTATON and NIKI parties expected to vote against the bill. In principle, Pleussi Eleftherias will maintain a positive attitude towards the bill, with Zoe Konstantopoulou calling on Niki Kerameos to withdraw the amendment and resubmit it as a bill, declaring that she will support it.

Contrary to the amendment, however, the bill for the implementation of postal voting in the European elections and referendums is expected to become the law of the state, as it requires a simple majority, with only the votes of the ND being sufficient.

The vote, which will be held early this afternoon, will be by roll call following a request filed last night by the KKE.