Pickup expected in postal vote from abroad
Some 17,000 people have registered in just 11 days on the Interior Ministry platform for the postal vote, which creates optimism that the project will eventually be crowned with success.
Initially, of the 17,302 citizens who have registered to vote by mail, the majority (68.3%) are within Greece, while the rest live outside the country. More specifically, 11,824 citizens had registered in Greece until Friday.
From abroad, respectively, 5,478 registered, corresponding to 31.7%. However, the gap is narrowing as, in the first days, the percentage of Greeks abroad who had registered was only 24% and now it has risen to 32%, with government sources predicting it will rise further.
The same sources said the difference in applications between inside and outside Greece “was to be expected.” Tellingly, the international information campaign has not yet started and is expected to begin next week.
Most of the Greeks abroad who have registered are from Europe. In particular, 4,766 have registered, which corresponds to 87%, something that stands to reason as England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Cyprus have large Greek communities. The other two continents with a strong Greek element, (North and Central) America and Oceania, are still moving at low levels. In Australia the registrations only number 87, which corresponds to 1.6%. This number will increase, as Interior Minister Niki Kerameus, who is already touring Europe, will be in the US and Canada during the national holiday on March 25, while Deputy Minister Theodoris Livanios will travel to Australia for the same reason.
The low turnout so far in the US and Australia is explained, as a government source says, by the fact that outside Europe “citizens do not understand and are not so interested in an electoral process that concerns Europe.”
