Greeks head to the polls for triple elections

Greeks are heading to the polls on Sunday to participate in the country’s triple elections – European, regional and local.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. (EEST) and will close at 7 p.m. (EEST). The country has a total of 9,922,294 registered voters, of which 4,810,075 are men and 5,112,219 are women. Greeks living abroad vote a day earlier, on May 25.

This year, 528,000 Greeks will vote for the first time, including 106,760 17-year-olds, who will participate for the first time, following a change in the law by the SYRIZA-led government in 2016. Voting in the country is compulsory.

Forty party lists are running for Greece’s 21 European Parliament seats. For the EU elections, the country is considered as one constituency, so political parties present single tickets for the entire country.

To vote in the 39,063 polling stations set up around the country, Greeks need a police ID or a passport.

“Everything is going smoothly, there are no problems, and some small delays have been tackled,” said Kostas Poulakis, the general secretary of the Ministry of Interior, speaking to journalists two hours after the polls opened.

Speaking after casting his vote, Interior Minister Alexis Haritsis said: "This is the first time the Greek state is called upon to organize a quadruple election with four ballots. We have made a very important, arduous preparation at the ministry to mobilize the entire state mechanism which is responsible for preparing the elections." 

The fourth ballot is for electing the members of the local councils which require a seperate ticket in the local elections.

The results of the last European elections in 2014 were the following:

SYRIZA: 26.6 pct – 6 seats
New Democracy: 22.7 pct – 5 seats
Golden Dawn: 9.4 pct 3 seats
Olive Tree (center-left coalition): 8 pct – 2 seats
To Potami: 6.6 pct – 2 seats
Communist Party (KKE): 6.1 pct – 2 seats
Independent Greeks (ANEL:) 3.5 pct – 1 seat
Other parties: 17.1 pct – no seats