Bill on postal voting submitted to the relevant committee for processing

"The new parliamentary year begins on Monday with a bill, which I believe has a special symbolism. On Monday morning we will be in the Parliament to defend the bill that establishes, for the first time in the history of the Greek state, the institution of the postal vote," Interior Minister Niki Kerameus said on Sunday at an event in Patras.

"The postal vote is a measure, which concerns all Greeks who live abroad, but also all Greeks who live in our country," she added.

As Kerameus said, "postal voting is a measure that deepens democracy" and stressed: "Whoever is afraid of postal voting is afraid of participation. It is a measure of democracy, that is, how we will bring more people to the polls, how we will strengthen participation and how we will motivate our fellow citizens to express their will.

Referring to the procedures that will follow, the Interior Minister said that "the bill is scheduled to be voted on in January" and added: "Then, in February, March and April, the platform will be open for someone to declare if they want to vote by letter on European elections in June. At the end of April, the platform will close, the envelopes will be sent from the Interior Ministry to those who will vote by post, they will receive them about 20 days before the elections and they have several days at their disposal to complete the postal vote. The only prerequisite is that the postal vote is returned and has arrived by the eve of the European elections, on Saturday, June 8, at 5:00.

Speaking about ensuring the secrecy of the vote, Niki Kerameus said that "all precautions for secrecy, security and validity have been taken, with Taxis codes, with confirmation using a security code sent to a mobile phone, with tracking of the envelope's progress so that the voter knows at all times where his envelope is, with authenticity features on the envelopes and all the safeguards that the best international practices have and many more."

At the same time, she underlined that "we are adopting this measure to exhaust all the institutional tools we need as a State, in order to encourage more people to turn out and vote."