Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras signaled that he is partly prepared to heed to opposition calls to allow Greeks residing abroad to vote in parliamentary elections.
Speaking in parliament on Friday, Tsipras pledged that his government will put forward legislation that will allow the “children of the brain drain” to vote in the country they live in.
“We will give the right to vote to those children emigrated abroad because of the policies of your administrations,” said the Greek PM replying to opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis who raised the issue in parliament.
Tsipras, however, appeared to divide the Greek diaspora into two categories: The “children of the brain drain” and “immigrants of third or fourth generation.”
He said his initiative will be different from what has been proposed before, namely giving the vote to “third or fourth generation migrants.”
Mitsotakis, who has raised the issue a number of times recently, called on Tsipras “to stop hiding” and allow Greek immigrants to vote.
In a recent interview, he outlined his proposal which would allow those who are already registered in any of Greece’s electoral districts to vote for candidates on a single state-wide ticket.
The voting would take place at Greek embassies and consulates.
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