These «blue» complaints, which are in the possession of «Ef.Syn.», claim that many New Democracy members in various regions across Greece who wish to vote in the upcoming triple election, even though they had registered online and paid the required fee to vote electronically, their registration has been canceled, and their only option now is to vote in person.
This, it is alleged, makes it difficult for certain groups of voters to participate in the elections, especially during a pandemic. But the same complaints also indicate that there are many cases of members who were completely excluded from the electoral process—even from in-person voting.
In Piraeus
Specifically, New Democracy officials in the greater Piraeus area told *Ef.Syn.* that «people had the option to vote either in person or online. The online voting system has become a mess; they haven’t verified anyone’s identity, and they’ve arbitrarily excluded whoever they wanted, forcing them to vote in person,» adding that for some people it’s difficult to vote in person due to their age, others will be away from their electoral districts, while still others do not want to go to the polling station because of the coronavirus.
However, these same officials also complain that there are many who had registered to vote in person, who had paid, but were «completely left out of the entire process,» emphasizing that «we have copies of the payments in our possession.» Furthermore, they note that this is a nationwide issue, even voicing suspicions that there may be ulterior motives behind the events they are denouncing.
In this context, the former mayor of Perama, Yannis Lagoudakos, tells *Ef. Syn.* that many people «took the 12 euros, verified their identities,» «assuring them that they wouldn’t vote »one for many,« but »one for one,« etc.,» and after “telling them that they would vote on Election Sunday,” suddenly they are not on the voter rolls; in the same context, he stated that they are being deprived of the right that the authorities themselves granted them, and that the 12 euros are not being returned to them either.
In response, New Democracy sources attributed the allegations regarding online registration to «errors in the submission of applications to participate in the online voting system,» stating that «nevertheless, all these people have the right to vote in person,’ while regarding the complaints about those who were completely excluded, the same sources referred to »cases where they believe they have completed registration but have not actually done so,’ as well as «cases of delays,» which they attributed to the timing of the submission of applications and the corresponding appearance of the transactions in bank accounts.
Yiannis Baskakis
