FOR THE CITIZEN

Elections Time Schedule

The elections for the appointment of the Municipal and Communal Authorities, as well as the appointment of the members of the Local Councils and Councils of the Municipal Districts and the appointment of Municipal Assistants, will take place on Sunday 15th October 2006.

Voting will begin at 7 am and will finish at 7.00 pm of the same day. In case of a repeat voting procedure, on the following Sunday, voting will begin at 7 am and will finish at 7.00 pm of the same day.

 

Who has the right to vote

The following residents of a Municipality or Community have the right to vote during these Municipal and Communal Elections:

• Those who are already 18 years old
• Those who are registered in the Electoral Register of the Municipality or Community
• Those who have not been deprived from the right to elect.

"Community voters", i.e. citizens of the European Union Member States, who are living in Greece and are not Greeks, also have the right to vote. These persons must have previously submitted all necessary documents required by the Presidential Decree 133/1997, as amended by the provisions of the Presidential Decrees 164/97, 320/99 and 130/2002, and they must also be registered in an electoral register of a Municipality or Community of Greece, where they can exercise their right to vote.

Where do we vote 

All voters will vote in the Municipality or Community in which they are registered. As far as the Municipal and Communal Elections are concerned, the provisions of article 27 par.1 of the P.D. 55/1999 regarding civil servants and army officers are not valid.

The exercise of the voting right is compulsory (article 44 par. 2 P.D. 410/1995).

"Community voters" will vote at the Municipality or Community they reside and have submitted the required documents.

Which candidates can one vote for

• For a Mayor and the Municipal Councilors in Municipalities without change: All municipal voters who are registered in the electoral register of the Municipality.
• For the Mayor and the Municipal Councilors of Municipalities deriving from a unification: All residents of the municipality who are registered in the electoral register of the Municipality (that is the municipal districts of all Municipalities and Communities that were abolished and unified to form the new Municipality, as well as the settlements that are appended to it). However, the members of the Municipal Council who are presidents of the Local Councils in Municipal Districts of population 300 residents and over, are elected only by the voters who are registered in the electoral register of the known Municipal District of the Municipality or Community that was abolished as a result of the unification, or of the settlement that was appended, together with the members of the known Local Council.
• For the Local Councilors: All voters registered in the electoral register of the known Municipal District can vote.
• For the Councilors of Councils of Municipal Districts in large Municipalities: All municipal residents, registered in the electoral registers of each electoral district within this district.
• For the President of a Community, the Communal Councilors and the Deputies: All the residents who are registered in the electoral register of the Community. Whenever it concerns Communities with Communal districts, voters are all the residents who are registered in the electoral registers of each Communal District.
  

Arrival and identification of voters

Voters enter the voting room one at a time or in small groups as they arrive, and they present themselves to the returning board, which will identify them and will confirm that a voter is registered in the electoral register.

The voters are identified by their ID card or passport. If it concerns army officers or persons working for the security forces, then identification is based on the military or official ID card.

Details on the above voter identification procedures are included in article 75 of the P.D. 55/1999.

During the voters identification, it is possible that certain discrepancies due to mistakes or other causes, will arise for some voters, regarding to their details as shown in the electoral register and their ID card. It is possible that:

1. The details given by the electoral registers may not correspond exactly to the details shown on their ID card or official ID card, due to possible mistakes during the printing of the electoral registers.
2. The registration of voters in the register may have been omitted during their sorting and merging by the computer department of the Ministry, despite the fact that these voters hold a voting book and are included in the original electoral register, certified by the Court of First Instance in charge.
3. In this case, the voters will have to submit an one-subject contraction certificate, which is issued by the known Mayor or President of the Community or any other document which proves the person's ID.
4. Female voters who have been registered in the electoral register under their husband's surname while their ID card shows their Father's surname and vice versa.
5. In this case, it is possible to verify the real ID of the voters by comparing the details shown in the electoral register with the rest of the details shown on the ID card, so as to avoid the submission of any other proof of ID, unless of course it is a special case in which the proof of ID is not possible by comparing the above details. In this special case, women voters are to carry with them a relevant document of proof (e.g. A marriage certificate). In any case it is up to the returning board to decide if the ID of a voter, in cases as described above, is proven by any other document or ID card of the voter and once the returning board is convinced, they can allow the voter to exercise his/her voting right.
   
   
   
   
   

The way of voting

Following the identification of the voters, the voting procedure continues as described below:

Receipt of the ballot paper and the envelope

Each voter will be given a single, white envelope, which is signed by the returning officer on the spot and stamped with the stamp of the returning board, as well as the full pack of printed ballots of all candidates and combinations for the election of the Municipal or Communal Authorities.

Then, the returning board indicates to the voter the voting booth, in which he/she will proceed and place the ballot paper he/she prefers in the envelope, without being seen by anyone.

Writing or erasing things on the ballot is not allowed and in such case the ballot paper is considered invalid.

Then, once the voter has sealed the envelope, he/she returns and shows the envelope to the returning board and the others present, so that they are certain that the voter holds one envelope only, with the returning board stamp on it. He/she then puts the envelope in the ballot box.

Preference crosses 

In general, any ballot paper of a candidate combination that has more preference crosses on it than the number indicated below, is considered valid, although none of the preference crosses is taken into account.

Moreover, a preference cross is not required for the election of the Mayor or the President of the Community.

1. Municipalities with no changes:When it concerns Municipalities, the voter can put one or two preference crosses on each ballot paper. However, in the cases of the Municipalities of Athens, Thessaloniki and Piraeus the voter can put one, two or three preference crosses on each ballot paper either for the Municipal Councilors or the Councilors of the Municipal Districts. In the Municipality of Patras, the voters can express their preferences by putting one or two preference crosses.

2. Municipalities deriving from the unification of Local Government Organizations: Regarding the Municipal Councilors of all Municipalities that have derived from a unification of Local Government Organizations (O.T.A.), the voters can express their preferences in favour of one or two candidates. For the candidate Local Councilors of all Local Councils (seven, five or three members councils), the voters can express their preference only for one Local Councilor. This means that the voter can only put one preference cross next to the name of Local Councilor candidate. If the voter uses the ballot of another municipal district, this ballot paper is not taken into account for the election of the Local Council members but it is valid with regards to the combination of the candidate Mayor and the Municipal Councilors.

To voters who vote in an electoral department of the Municipal District of the former Community, that has a Local Council, the returning board will give the ballot of the Municipality, which will present the names of the candidate Mayor and Municipal Councilors on the top and the name of their Local Council and their Municipal District at the bottom. Under these there will be the names of the candidate members of the Local Council. These voters can put up to two (2) crosses to the candidate Municipal Councilors and one (1) cross maximum to candidate Local Councilors.

Voters who will vote in electoral departments of the Municipal District of the Municipality, which has not formed a Local Council due to the fact that it has over 1,000 residents, will receive the basic - general ballot paper of each party combination (without a Local Council). These will only vote for Municipal Councilors, putting a maximum number of two (2) crosses next to the names of the Municipal Councilors they prefer.

3. Communities: Each voter can put one preference cross on each ballot paper, for one Community Councilor.

4. Communities deriving from a unification: A voter can express his/her preference only for one candidate for the Assistant of a Communal District. A ballot which contains preference crosses either for the two Assistant candidates or for Assistant candidates of more than one Communal Districts, is considered valid, but no preference cross is taken into account.

Certification of exercising the voting right

After a voter has voted and if he/she so requires, the president of the returning board will supply him/her with a printed certificate. There will be printed certificates in the electoral bags together with the rest of the printed material supplied to all electoral departments.

Helping the voters

1. Voters who cannot wait in a queue outside the electoral departments for a long time because they are pregnant women, old persons, disabled persons, sick persons etc or because they have to work or provide their service (Army Officers, Police Officers or are employees working for the elections procedures, including those working for the Greek Telecommunications Organization O.T.E.) must vote on a high priority basis after making the necessary arrangements with the returning board.
2. Voters who have difficulties in moving during voting because of a disability, can ask for the help of a returning officer or representative of legal authority. They are obliged to offer their help in order for the voter to exercise his/her voting right.

Restrictions

It is prohibited for anyone who is not on duty or is not required to actually vote and to any citizen not voting, to enter the voting room during voting time.

Extension of voting time

Once the voting time has lapsed, the returning board has the right to extend the time specified by the program for a maximum duration of two hours, if it is established that there are still voters who wish to exercise their right to vote. If voting has been interrupted for any reason, the voting time is extended with the consent of the legal authority representative, until the time of possible interruptions has been replenished. In special cases only, the returning board can extend the voting for longer than two hours, or longer than the time the interruptions lasted, until there are no more voters present.