Sunday 26 May 2019

Voting Day

  Big election day today.  Election days are always on a Sunday.  Most greeks go back to their village, their roots, to vote.  Everyone goes back to their families, the island fills with Poros people from ages past.

Schools close down for a four day weekend,  No school on the Friday preceding and the Monday following.  Schools are used as polling booths but also it lets the teachers go home to vote.  If there are follow up elections then they'll be closed for 4 days the next weekend as well.

This time there will be multiple polls for the Euro-parliament, the District Council and for  the Municipality (The Mayor and Councillors).




We always come down early to avoid the crowds.  Longer lines begin to form when everyone comes out of church and comes down to vote and when the first boat and hydrofoil bring in locals from Athens and Piraeus.


All the candidates form up outside the polling station and there are 'camps' on both sides of the road where the two Mayoral candidates and their followers sit.  We are accosted by 'handshakers' from both sides, all hoping they'll get our vote.  

I slip in and out with a couple of 'yiasous' to both sides but K always gets caught and promises all and sundry that he'll vote for them.

Then can be a lot of nastiness if you're considered to be on the 'opposite' side especially in local elections.  Jobs have been lost.  One taverna owner refused to serve 'perceived'  backers of the other party.  Small town back stabbing at its worst and believe me there's a lot of that on this island.  This is not paradise at all.

There were 38 parties contesting for Euro-parliament seats, 38 big pieces of paper to sort through in the voting booth.  A real hassle.  I always slip the extra voting papers into my bag so I've got note paper for the next few years.  I'll have enough paper this time to last till the next elections in four years time!

17 year olds are voting for the first time and that includes my oldest grandson.  17 years old!  Soon he'll have to do his compulsory military service too.


After voting we went out for coffee of course and got stuck in long discussions.  Once the sun was over the yard arm some of us thought about having something a little stronger.  Years ago there was no alcohol served on election days to stop inter-party fisticuffs.
At cafeterias any alcohol  (back then it was all the craze to drink whisky) was served in coffee cups to fool authorities.  K's ouzo was served to him in a coffee cup today as a joke by his good friend and cafe owner.

No-one was fooled.

Results aren't in yet but it looks as though the ruling party has lost a lot of support.  Maybe we'll be having general elections soon too





15 comments:

  1. On Sunday, but I see why!

    Right outside the polling place, these candidates gather and try to 'gather' votes? Here, no party can be within a certain distance, so no "poloticing" at the polls.

    It's a long weekend, so everyone has a fun time.

    No saying how you vote! No matter how, you can make someone mad at you! Yikes!

    Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Here, our long one, is because of our Memorial Day.

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  2. Enjoy your memorial Day!
    Honestly it's ridiculous this pushing for votes. I wish they'd ban them from polling places here. It's like running the gauntlet, literally

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  3. It all sounds quite exhausting! You need a little pick-me-up after that :)

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  4. Here, no advertising for votes on election day. Next weekend is a long weekend here - Queens Birthday.

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    1. Enjoy the holiday. Hope the weather is nice and warm!

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  5. We once went to a restaurant in Shropshire that didn't have an alcohol licence, so our bottle of wine came served in a teapot!!!!!

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    1. That would have been most enjoyable! Should be that where's food there is wine!

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  6. Whisky drinking politicians? Sounds like the House of Commons.

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    1. Whisy is passe here now. It's raki that's the 'in' drink. Tough stuff

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  7. We just had elections here too.
    I’m so over all the posturing from politicians
    I’m so very thankful they don’t happen every year
    Besides. No matter who gets in. They are all the same.
    All for themselves and we the people get screwed over

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    1. I saw you had elections. Unfortunately you're right. Politicians live in another world. They have no idea how the man on the street lives. There main thoughts are how to hold on to their 'estemmed' position ofr as long as possible and pocket as much money as possible!

      Now we've got general elections at the end of the month. It is going to be unbearable. All parties have been acting like little kids having tantrums and accusing each other, 'you did it, no its your fault'. God save us

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  8. I'm like Angela - so over it!
    How to vote cards being handed out by party faithful volunteers accost you (politely) at the school gates. There's the school sausage sizzle fundraiser to wend your way round as well.
    It seems odd (read that as different to us) to vote in your home town rather that residence constituency- how on earth did you cope with it all when you first arrived all those years ago?

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    1. I wouldn't mind the hassle if there was a sausage sizzle!!! I wouldn't mind a decent sausage any which way!!
      Took a lifetime to get used to these greek ways and some still annoy but at least because I'm still (after 40 years) a foreigner I can get away with avoiding a lot of crap!!!

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  9. I'm so glad we don't have elections here at the moment, yes alot of nastiness and games can come from it. We have the country's ones due next year though.

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