Filenews 10 May 2025 - by Frixos Dalitis
Neither 17-year-olds will vote in the parliamentary elections, nor will we have automatic registration on the electoral lists, nor will there be a change in the way seats are distributed. The three major issues that have been discussed all this time in the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior are being taken to the Plenary Session of the Parliament for a vote along with all the other bills and bills that have been put on the table.
However, the latest information from the party background states that:
>> The right to vote from the 17th year, as well as the automatic registration in the electoral rolls, will gather the required majority, but their implementation will not be immediate but will be postponed to the next election which will be the presidential elections.
>> DISY's proposal, which concerns the change in the way seats are distributed, does not seem to gather the required majority. In any case, even if it is voted on - which is not expected - it will not be implemented by the next election but by the parliamentary elections of 2031. The most likely scenario is that it will be rejected as the method of distribution of seats proposed in the proposed law favours the first party in electoral power, which wins seats from the third party in electoral power.
Other electoral legislation is expected to be immediately implemented, such as facilities for people with disabilities and election expenses. Horizontal voting and the increase in the number of MPs with the introduction of the institution of state MPs will not be voted on.
It is noted that during the meeting of leaders the day before yesterday, the proposal of the Ministry of Interior for the date of the parliamentary elections was also put on the table. The day of the parliamentary elections was initially set for Sunday, May 24, 2026. It was also agreed that the current Parliament will dissolve itself due to the expiration of its term of office, on April 23, 2026.
According to the legislation, the Parliament must be dissolved at least 30 days before the elections, which must be held no more than 40 days.
It is noted that 37 consolidated texts concerning electoral legislation will be put to a vote by the Plenary on May 22, after the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior will meet on the same day, in order to have a final position of its members on the bills and legislative proposals. For the right to vote at the age of 17, an amendment to the Constitution is required.
>> Letter from the Ministry of Interior
On the issue of automatic registration in the electoral rolls, the Ministry of the Interior recently sent a letter to the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior, informing about some technical issues that may arise.
As stated in the letter of the Ministry of the Interior, based on the timetable set by the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior, all legislation pending before it and affecting the upcoming parliamentary elections of 2026, will be submitted for a vote in the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives around the end of May. "Therefore, in case the bill concerning automatic registration on the electoral roll is passed into law, it will be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic in June and the Ministry of Interior will have to implement it on July 2 with the closure of the quarterly of the supplementary electoral list."
Therefore, as mentioned, it is required that the Department of IT Services of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy proceed with relevant modifications to the population record system for the application of the automatic registration criteria and automation of the process of printing letters for informing voters. In addition, the electronic service for informing citizens about their registration status on the electoral roll should be developed, as well as for the coupling of the population record system with the computerized system of the Social Insurance Services in order to check the criteria for the clearance of the electoral list.
"Taking into account the very narrow time frames from the date of the bill's possible enactment into law, until the date on which it should be implemented, after the necessary amendments to the population register system have been made and tested, I ask that a suspensive clause be added to the bill, so that its provisions come into force following a relevant decision of the Council of Ministers and in any case before October 2, 2025, the supplementary list of which will determine the seats of each constituency in the event that the above-mentioned law proposal is passed into law," the letter of the Ministry of Interior states.
