Press Release

The Secretary General of the Ministry of  Interior, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, and the Consul General of Greece in New York, Dinos Konstantinou, addressed an appeal to the Greek expatriates who have the right to vote from the USA, according to the new electoral law, in order to arrange their registration in the special electoral roll, during a press conference of the Greek American media that took place at the Consulate General of New York on November 14, 2022.

In particular, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior emphasized that after the announcement of the elections it will be practically impossible to check the submitted data and for this reason, the beneficiaries should act immediately. «It won't be easy at the last minute. The law provides for the possibility of registration in the electoral rolls up to 3 days after the announcement of the elections. This, however, is practically very difficult», underlined Mr. Stavrianoudakis.

At the same time, Mr. Stavrianoudakis emphasized that participation in the upcoming elections is important since, among other things, it will be a lever of pressure for a possible review of the existing legislation and its expansion beyond the limitations which are in force today, which will not happen if the interest of the expatriates turns out to be low.

«The participation of those who currently have the right to vote will be the motivation to claim from the next Parliament the further improvement of the conditions. It is very important, through this pool of people, who are either in Australia, America, or Europe, especially the youth who are under 35 years overseas, to be clear that there is a high interest in participating in the elections. If there is no interest and participation is low, it will be extremely difficult to repeat such a debate in the Greek Parliament in the future», Mr. Stavrianoudakis pointed out.

For his part, the Consul General, Mr. Constantinou, said that he is already preparing the services of the Consulate General for the elections, stressing that next February is expected to be a turning point.

«Those expatriates, who are eligible, must immediately be registered on the electoral platform. On the part of the Consulate General, we will carry out in the coming weeks a reminder campaign regarding the elections, so it will be the best policy for expatriates to make the registration by February at the latest. This will make it much easier for all sides», emphasized Mr. Constantinou.