Bulgarians in Greece - fewer and increasingly apathetic at the polls

published on 10/27/24 4:27 PM

Sevar Ognyanov

Photo: Private archive

There are 23 polling stations where Bulgarians can vote in Greece today. They are five less than their number in the previous election on June 9 this year.

The most sections – five – were opened on the island of Crete. They are located in places convenient for voters. The Greek authorities provided a cultural center, a school and offices in the municipalities.

In the northern part of the country, where there are also many Bulgarian tourists, Bulgarian citizens can vote in Thessaloniki, Kavala, Komotini and Alexandroupolis. In Halkidiki there is a polling station in Nikiti.

On the islands, you can vote on Mykonos, Rhodes, Kos, Nafplio and Lemnos, reports BNR correspondent in Greece Katya Peeva.

Four polling stations have been opened in the capital Athens, two of them in the Bulgarian embassy. Sevar Ognyanov is once again the chairman of one of them: "Until now, the election day is proceeding normally and calmly, with a comparatively lower voter turnout, as 41 people have voted by noon," he told Radio Bulgaria. We remind you that in the previous early parliamentary elections, 136 people voted in Polling Station 1 of our Embassy in Athens. Today, this number is unlikely to be exceeded. The reason is also the holiday for our southern neighbor - Day "Ohi" (Day "No!") on October 28, which is a holiday and provides a long weekend. Many people in the country have gone on vacation, including the Bulgarians, who will not go to the polls today and vote.

"People come to vote with hope, just like last time, but I can see that this hope is starting to wane. I feel like people are already voting out of inertia. Maybe they know what the end result will be, whatever they do, so they just come to let their voices be heard. There's still a glimmer of hope that keeps people going. That's how I see things."

Until the end of the election day, there are still a few hours in which the situation may change, Ognyanov hopes. The lack of desire to take responsibility on the part of politicians is the reason why we have reached this point, our compatriot believes.

And what about the low voter turnout?

"The low voter turnout, in general in Greece, not only in Athens, is due to the fact that most Bulgarians are already outside Greece. They are not in the same number that we were here five years ago or ten years ago," Sevar Ognyanov tells us. The reasons, of course, are economic. The higher salaries in Western European countries, such as Germany, France and even Great Britain, made our compatriots choose them as their new home. According to Sevar, this is also the reason for the smaller number of polling stations for Bulgarian citizens in Greece today.

Tiredness and the last drop of hope that the electoral chapter of our history will be closed for the next four years - this is how our compatriot sees today, October 27, preceding the "No Day!" in Greece. And he recognizes that election campaign messages rarely reach directly the members of the Bulgarian community in Bulgaria's southern neighbor.

"What they hear from loved ones, relatives and friends who are on the territory of Bulgaria - this is how Bulgarians here get informed."

The conclusions are up to you. We remind you that every Bulgarian citizen can vote in Greece by submitting an application to be added to the list at the polling station, in which he or she signs that he or she has not voted elsewhere.

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