40 percent of registered voters abstained from the ballot boxes fro the first round of municipality and regional elections.According to data from Greek Interior Ministry:
61.45% of registered voters participated in the regional elections
61.52% of registered voters participated in the municipality elections.
The reasons for the relative low participation could be:
– no compulsory voting if registered voter is more than 200km away from polling station
-no possibility to cast a vote if registered voter lives abroad
-abstention as a form of protest
Curious to see voters’ participation next Sunday when Greeks will be called to cast votes in three ballot boxes: EU elections, 2nd and final round for municipality and regional elections.
Normally participation is lower in the 2nd round of municipality and regional elections. In the first round, the voters choose also the municipality counselors, that is they put a cross in front of the name of a relative or a friend. In they second round they just put the list of mayor candidate of their choice.
Nevertheless, the combination of EU and local elections may drag more voters to the ballot boxes as the EU elections are considered as a kind of “referendum” for the coalition government and its austerity policies.
As my ID suggests life is to short to fight politicians