Parliament: The bill on the electoral rights of expatriates was passed

With the parties sticking to their initial positions and with no prospect, at least so far, of a broader consensus, so that the Plenary can be voted for by 2/3 of the MEPs, as required by the constitution, completed in the competent committee of the Parliament, the debate and vote of the bill of the Ministry of Interior for the «removal of restrictions on registration on the special electoral rolls of voters from abroad».

The bill was accepted by a majority with the support of ND, KINAL and EL.LY, while SYRIZA, KKE and MERA5 voted against it.

Earlier, SYRIZA rejected the open invitation of the Interior Minister, Makis Voridis, to accept counting the vote of expatriates in the overall election result to immediately start a discussion on technical issues and to agree to the adoption of a new electoral law, which will give the right to all Greek expatriates to vote without conditions and requirements.

Given the positions of the six parliamentary parties, as expressed today, it does not seem that a consensus can be reached to reach the required number of 200 MEPs for the plenary session. It should be noted that the parliamentary strength of the New Democracy party is 158 MPs, that of Syriza is 86, that of Kinal is 22 MPs, that of the KKE is 15, that of the EL.LY. is 10 and that of the «MerA25» is 9.

The Minister of Interior spoke «for political terms with clear and firm positions, but also explained and understood words with which the discussion between the parties on the electoral rights of Greeks abroad should be held». «The positions of all parties must be clearly answered and clarified. There are or there are not some kind of restrictions on the voting rights of expatriates. Everyone must take a stand on major strategic issues that must be resolved through dialogue, publicly, openly, clearly and frankly. I am willing to have many discussions, but specific and public and not under the table,» the Interior Minister noted and added:

«If what concerns the SYRIZA is whether we're going to have expatriate constituencies and expats are elected there, we're opening up the debate now, but their vote should count everywhere. If this is your issue, we stop the discussion here. Think it over until the plenary. SYRIZA says all Greeks abroad without restrictions. I agree. It says we need to see how they will be represented, we need constituencies. I'm talking about it up to that point, but you won't say it won't count in the election results. As soon as you tell me that, the discussion stops here and we start discussing the technicalities, how many constituencies, how many seats, non-crossing crosses and whatever else you want. The debate on the bill was of particular value because the positions of the parties that may not have been clear were made absolutely clear. We all know that ND, KINAL, EL.LY. do not want restrictions, they said it clearly».

And Mr. Voridis concluded: «We have a great opportunity today to clarify our positions in a clear way, to assume our responsibilities and to give the right to vote to all Greek citizens, both inside and outside the walls.».

The rapporteur of the South West, George Koumoutsakos, supported the proposal of Mr. Voridis, stressing: «I see possibilities of convergence, seize the opportunity given today by the Minister of Interior, since you say that the vote of Greeks abroad should be without conditions and preconditions. You have, until the debate in the plenary, time to be able to contribute to the historic opportunity to give what our expatriates have been asking for over time.».

The rapporteur of SYRIZA, George Katrougalos, accused the minister of «trying to muddy the waters, thinking that he will gain impressions». «From the beginning, SYRIZA's position was and is in favour of removing the conditions and restrictions on the electoral rights of Greek expatriates, creating electoral districts for expatriates and not counting their vote in the overall election result,» Katrougalos said.

As Mr Katrougalos argued, «in France the closed system is applied which weights the vote of the expatriates differently» and added that «thethe European Court of Human Rights has ruled that equality of the vote is not violated».

«The other model of weighting by criteria of constraints also applies. In the previous law you passed in 2019, you accepted the possibility of altering the election result,» Katrougalos said and concluded «A compromise is indeed a minimum of accepting positions. Our initial position was and is the possibility of election by constituency with a single ballot paper and without being counted in the overall election result, and to this we do not give in. If you join us, we will vote for the bill. But I don't think you're serious. Obviously we will debate it in plenary. According to the constitution, a prerequisite for the law to be passed needs the support of two-thirds of the House, and it appeared that this was not there. It will continue in plenary, but the recommendatory nature reflected in the committee does not ensure the necessary constitutional majority.».

For his part, the Minister of Interior of SYRIZA, Costas Zacharias, accused the government of having an agenda, stressing that «it wants to keep the issue of the expatriate vote open in order to entrench its audience both within and outside the government».

The rapporteur of KINAL, Evangelia Liakoulis, called on SYRIZA to respond to the invitation of the Interior Minister, saying: «We have a development today. Mr. Voridis threw down the gauntlet to SYRIZA, saying. stops the debate and does not bring it to plenary, will discuss it from the outset if it accepts to count the vote of expatriates in the election result. It is a great opportunity to take the debate further. All parties must respond, think seriously and decide.

The Special Rapporteur of the JRC, Yannis Gkiokas, stressed that his party fundamentally disagrees with SYRIZA's rejection of the single ballot paper, claiming that so the vote of the expatriates is partisan and added that this position is deeply reactionary. At the same time, he insisted on his party's position that it must be proven that there is a strong social or economic link to the voting rights of expatriates.

«Our position is crystal clear. Voting for all Greeks abroad without terms and conditions», said the special rapporteur of the Hellenic Solution, Costas Chitas.

The special rapporteur of MP25 was positive to the invitation of the Minister of Interior, Fotini Bakadima, stressing that her party had from the outset been in favour of expatriate constituencies and in favour of parity of votes.