Postal voting now possible in Greece for the European elections. A measure wanted by the government to reduce abstention.
More than 200,000 Greek voters living abroad have decided to exercise their right to vote for the first time by post. Started in 2019, the simplification of expatriate voting was definitively validated by the Greek Parliament in January 2024. Greece was one of the last countries in Europe not to have implemented this system.
”For me it was very important, because firstly I wanted to free up my Sunday, secondly I didn’t know what else might happen that day and I wanted to make sure I could vote, and because it is a new procedure and I wanted to adopt it” explains Katerina Karavioti, a resident of Athens.
In order to guarantee the secrecy of the vote and to avoid any type of fraud, security barriers were provided, as Athanasios Ballerbas, Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, explained to Euronews: “in general, security levels are improved. The anonymous voting envelope essentially has the characteristics of a bank note. It is impossible to reproduce it. There are also electronic procedures which guarantee the voter and the representatives parties to follow this procedure with transparency and integrity.”
Among the advantages of the reform: the considerably reduced environmental impact, because the voter does not receive dozens of ballots but only one, in which he votes according to the instructions specified in an accompanying booklet.
The abstention rate in the European elections raises serious concerns. In Greece, the government, through postal voting, removes obstacles to the polls for those who want to vote, but for some objective reason this is not possible. It therefore remains to be seen whether the reform will have a real impact on the participation rate.