Elections

A bill that will lift restrictions for Greek citizens voting in elections abroad was posted for public consultation by the Interior Ministry on Monday.

The parties that win the largest proportion of the vote will get substantially more in state funding than so far, while the smallest ones stand to lose the most under changed rules to party financing passed by the National Assembly on 6 July.

The result of the June 25 election with the election of three far-right parties to Parliament, even if it was a product of the momentary election fatigue, showed that bans are not enough to deal with existing social discontent.

Europeans still hope that Ukraine can win the current shocking war. Many also continue to hope that democracy will be a major reason why the Ukrainians will be victorious. I believe that ancient history can help us to decide whether such hopes are reasonable or unrealistic.

Voter turnout hit an historic low in Sunday's election, with 47.18% of voters opting to stay away from the ballot box, the highest abstention rate since the fall of the military junta in 1974, if not before.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for a stable government for the next four years from the polling station in Kifissia, where he voted.

"Citizens and democracy are the focus today, it is a day of joy and responsibility. We are voting for the second time in just a few weeks so the country can have a stable and efficient government with a four-year horizon," he said.

The long pre-election period and the clear result of the May 21 ballot may have created a sense that Sunday's vote is something of a formality. This is far from the case. 

In fact, this election is more important than the last one because it will determine whether the country will have a government for the next four years and how it will be governed. 

Is it possible that by observing Greek politics from far away I can form a better point of view or is it the case that because of the distance I don't have a good picture? In any case, here is how I see Greek politics now.

With the formerly ascendant, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party broken, its leadership in prison, and the anti-Western left defanged, Greece's political fringes are looking more gauche than sinister.

With the election just days away, New Democracy is seeking the crucial 40% threshold that would secure a safe outright majority to form a single-party government.