Responsibilities to the SYRIZA-PS, that by refusing to give his consent, he would not allow members of the Greek diaspora to exercise their long-standing, just, and constitutionally guaranteed right to vote, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Theodoros Livaniou, during the debate on the Ministry of the Interior's bill regarding the Removal of the terms and conditions governing the right to vote for Greek citizens residing abroad.
«We start from the premise that no one wants to punish their own country. But what is the official opposition afraid of? Greeks living abroad are people who want what’s best for the country and already have an active connection to it. And I’m truly sorry that SYRIZA is making a strong institutional veto »which does not allow all registered overseas voters to exercise their right to vote without hindrance," Mr. Livaniou noted.
At the same time, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister described the proposals by both SYRIZA-PS and MERA25 to create electoral districts for expatriates as unworkable, while noting that The New Democracy party's position on the equal value of expatriates' votes has been consistent.
«In December 2019, the parties reached an agreement—having compromised on certain points for various reasons—and the bill on voting rights for Greeks abroad was passed. However, even then, the New Democracy party’s proposal was for the votes of Greeks abroad to be counted equally in the election results,» noted Mr. Livaniou.
