New Democracy Wins Vote of Greeks Abroad

New Democracy is leading in the vote of Greeks living overseas, as the counting of ballot boxes from the 35 countries where polling stations were set up continues.

With three in five votes counted, New Democracy won 41.94% of the vote, followed by SYRIZA with 17.24%. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) received 12.42% of the vote, just ahead of MeRA 25 on 12.15%. PASOK stood at 6.73%, and other parties took 9.52% of the vote.

With most of the votes from European states counted, New Democracy is the first party in almost all countries, with the exception of Spain and Portugal, where SYRIZA topped the poll, and Denmark, where the Communist KKE took the lead from SYRIZA with a quarter of the vote.

Greeks residing abroad cast their votes in the Greek elections on Saturday in 102 polling stations around the globe.

The number of polling stations established was three more than were set up for the May 21, 2023 elections, since the number of those registered in the special electoral rolls abroad was 25,610, 2,755 more than the 22,855 eligible in the previous round.

The polling stations were set up in the same countries and cities, although a polling station was created in Vancouver, Canada, while the one in Kaunas, Lithuania was eliminated.

A polling station was also added in Brussels (four in total), London (nine) and Luxembourg (two).

In May, the turnout of the 22,855 registered voters was 79.65%.

Greeks abroad vote in election

In Belgium, the polls opened at 07:00 on Saturday and the electoral process ended at 19:00. In Brussels, four polling stations were set up instead of three in the May elections.

In total, the registered voters in the Belgian capital were 1,716 and in Antwerp 75.

The spokesperson of the Greek Embassy in Belgium, Thomas Thomopoulos, said to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA):

“The electoral process went smoothly this time as well. The Greeks of Belgium recorded high participation rates once again. Our experience from the election process in May helped us to make some improvements, which along with the increase in polling stations allowed the process to move faster.”

Cyprus: Participation rate at 81.6%

Out of a total of 1,543 registered in the special electoral rolls, 1,260 persons came to the five polling centres set up in the Republic of Cyprus for the Greek parliamentary elections, which translates into a turnout of 81.6%.

Italy: Two-thirds of registered voters cast ballots

Polling stations were set up in Rome, Milan and Venice, and the process was conducted smoothly while the turnout was approximately two-thirds of those registered in the electoral rolls.

More specifically, 154 citizens had registered to vote in Rome, 229 in Milan and 63 in Venice. Greeks who live permanently in Slovenia also went to vote in Venice.

Britain

Of the approximately 170,000 Greeks who live permanently in the United Kingdom, 5,624 finally managed to register in the special electoral rolls. As pointed out by the Greek ambassador in London, Ioannis Tsaousis, the process, as in the previous general election, went smoothly.

France

The roughly 1,000 Greeks registered to vote in France did so without particular problems, with the polls closing at 19:00 (local time). In France there were five polling stations in four cities, namely two in Paris and one each in Nantes, Nice and Strasbourg. According to the first indications, the abstention rate was more or less at the same levels as in the May 21 elections.

Germany

The voting process for Greek residents of Germany was completed smoothly, with a participation rate exceeding 70%. A total of 3,885 voters were registered in all 17 polling stations that operated in the country for the Greek elections (up 185 from the May elections) and 2,804 went to the polls.