Elections 2023 – Pierrakakis: At 9 pm on Sunday 80% of the results will be known

At 9 pm on Sunday, 80% of the election results will be ready, as Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis pointed out to SKAI.

At the same time, he announced that the first picture of the candidates’ crosses will be possible even before 12 midnight.

When Mr. Pierrakakis was asked about the statement of Kyriakos Velopoulos, who stated that he has submitted an application to the inter-party committee in order to check the software that processes the results of the elections, he said that there will be “tablets in all the polling stations. Also, the legal representative will also hold a tablet, while anyone who wants to can be present and watch the process.”

“Each polling station will take out the votes, but the sum, which used to be recorded by hand, will now be done with an automatic notification from the Ministry of the Interior to the official minister so that the result will come out much earlier” Mr. Pierrakakis also emphasized.

The election guide

In Greece, voters are digitally informed about where they are voting. On the special website, gov.gr, the voter can enter his details (Surname, first name, father’s name, mother’s name and date of birth) and see directly the electoral division in which he will vote. In fact, there is also a map with the exact location of the polling station.

It is recalled that through the page of the Ministry of the Interior (https://mpp.ypes.gov.gr) citizens can find out with a few clicks who they are voting.

As for the number of crosses they are allowed to put in order for their ballot not to be considered invalid, the answer is not the same for all voters, as the maximum number of preference crosses allowed varies from constituency to constituency. For example, in Athens A, citizens can put up to four preference crosses, while in Chios only one.

More detail:

Voters should have with them their police identity card or the relevant temporary certificate from the competent authority or their passport or driver’s license or the individual health book of all insurance funds. The identification of voters can also be done using the digital identity card.

As far as non-residents are concerned, the circular states that non-resident voters are given the opportunity to vote at their place of residence, as long as they had submitted a relevant application by February 28, 2023 and were included in special electoral lists. In this case, before the name of each non-citizen in the basic electoral rolls, there is the sign E. These voters are prohibited from voting in the municipality, in whose basic electoral rolls they are registered.

The men of the guard of the electoral divisions and other military personnel, as well as personnel of the Security Forces, available for the needs of the elections or moved for other official reasons, vote in an electoral division of the municipality, where they perform ordered service.

This year, for the first time, approximately 22 thousand Greeks abroad and more than 400,000 young people aged 17-21 are voting. According to the current legislation, all Greek citizens from the age of 17 and above, i.e. those born before December 31, 2006, will have the right to vote in the national elections.

The expatriates will vote a day earlier, that is on May 20, in the local electoral divisions (99 in total) that were set up in 35 countries of the world. Most citizens come from European countries, with the United Kingdom garnering the most registrations. It is followed by Germany and the Netherlands in the first three countries where most Greeks are. The polling stations will open at 7 in the morning and the process will be completed at 7 in the afternoon, with the local time of each region. What citizens living abroad should note is that they do not vote with a preference cross. They vote only with the State ballot. When coming to the polling stations, they must have their Greek identity card or passport with them.

See the complete list of polling stations for Greeks abroad

Special centers for people with mobility problems

With a special provision included in Law 5043/2023 (Government Gazette 91 A΄/13.4.2023 – Article 36) it is foreseen for the first time the creation of a reception and support area for voters with disabilities and reduced mobility for polling stations that are not located on the ground floor and do not meet their accessibility criteria.

Each municipality has the obligation to choose a special space on the ground floor where the screens will be installed, it will meet the accessibility criteria for people with disabilities, it will have fire safety standards, while their title will be legible and easy to recognize by the voters themselves and the attendants their.

Citizens will present their identification details to the competent judicial representative of the electoral division, who will verify the voter’s registration in the electoral roll and confirm identity. He will then come to the reception and support area for voters with disabilities and reduced mobility with all the ballots, one more blank, as well as a stamped and initialed envelope for inserting the ballot.

The voter will have exclusive access to the screen area, while if deemed necessary he can be accompanied by either the judicial representative or the voter’s companion in the presence of the judicial representative. The latter will help express the wish of the disabled person to vote, with absolute discretion, confidentiality and secrecy. In addition, assistance dogs are also allowed.

Finally, when the voter leaves the screen, the judicial representative will pick up the envelope containing the selected ballot and take it to the corresponding polling station where the voter is registered to vote and drop it into the ballot box, while updating the electoral roll and the competent electoral committee.

What about electoral licenses?

Private employees are entitled to a special electoral permit in order to be able to vote. According to the law of the Ministry of Labour, it is provided that all industrial, craft and commercial enterprises, holdings and operations of the private sector, as well as those that generally employ staff and are in the private sector, are required to grant their staff a special leave of absence with remuneration for the facilitation of exercising their right to vote, during the May 21 elections.

The number of leave days that covers the absolutely necessary time for the workers to go to the place of exercising their right to vote and return, is determined as follows:

A. For employees with a six-day weekly work regime:

a) For those who move 100-200 kilometers, a leave of one (1) working day is granted.

b) To those who move at a distance of 201-400 kilometers, a leave of 2 working days is granted.

c) Those who travel a distance of 401 kilometers or more are granted a leave of 3 (3) working days, if they travel by road, based on their responsible declaration.

d) For those who travel from and to islands for which there is no road access, the number of days of leave granted will be examined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the distance and the special conditions of travel, without, however, the leave in these cases exceeding 3 working days.

B. For employees with a five-day weekly work status:

a) For those who move 200-400 kilometers away, a leave of 1 working day is granted

b) For those who travel a distance of 401 kilometers or more, a leave of 2 working days is granted, if they travel by road, based on their responsible declaration

c) For those who travel to and from islands for which there is no road access, the number of days of leave granted will be examined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the distance and the special conditions of travel, without, however, the leave in these cases exceeding 3 working days.

3. For those employees, Sunday May 21 (voting day), being a working day, is considered a day of special leave of absence with pay, in addition to those mentioned above.

Finally, it is noted that the special leave to exercise the right to vote is not offset against the annual paid leave.

Soon the first results

Technology is also modernizing the way election results will be gathered and announced. Through a tablet, each judicial representative will transmit directly to the ministry the results of their polling center after the end of counting. In this way, it is estimated that at 20:00, i.e. one hour after the polls close, there will be a safe result in 25% of the state and at 20:30 – 21:00 for 80%. However, the traditional system of transmitting provisional results will continue to apply for security reasons.

TikTok’s role in elections

The popular social networking platform, TikTok, also got into the rhythm of the elections. The platform, aimed mainly at young people under the age of 25, created the “Greek elections center. According to an announcement by the platform, the Center will provide information and institutional sources related to the elections and will refer to the official websites of the Ministry of Interior. At the same time, content and accounts related to the elections will receive a relevant label that will refer to the Center.

Popular election hashtags will ensure easy access to the center for any user looking for relevant information. TikTok’s head of government relations for Southeast Europe and Israel, Giacomo Lev Mannheimer, emphasized that access to valid information is an important part of the platform’s overall strategy to combat misinformation and promote media literacy. As he said, TikTok works with reputable fact-checkers, i.e. people who check the authenticity of news, including AFP in Greece, reminding that sponsored political ads are prohibited on TikTok.

Accounts related to political content are automatically disabled for monetization, and TikTok’s policies do not allow fundraising, Manheimer added.

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