A draft law detailing diaspora Greeks’ voting restrictions, was defeated in Parliament on Wednesday.
Officially titled “Lifting of restrictions for the registration of voters abroad on special voting lists,” the bill required the support of 200 deputies out of the total 300.
The amendment was tabled after Theodora Tzakri, SYRIZA MP responsible for diaspora affairs, said that those in the diaspora had “unfair and devaluing limitations,” during an interview with The National Herald.
Of the 213 lawmakers present, the bill was supported by 190 deputies (ruling New Democracy, Movement for Change/KINAL and Greek Solution) and rejected by 23 (main opposition SYRIZA, Communist Party of Greece and MeRA25).
After decades of debate, in December 2019 parliament passed a law giving all Greek citizens living abroad the right to vote from their place of residence, if they can prove that they have lived continuously in Greece for two years in the last 35 years.
This can be validated by presenting a variety of documentary evidence, which among others includes the national service certificate, proof of social security contributions and degrees from Greek universities.
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