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350 foreign correspondents from 37 countries will broadcast live the Greek elections

20 January 2015 / 17:01:59  GRReporter
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The publications in the foreign press are preparing us for the increased interest that the parliamentary elections in Greece, scheduled for 25 January, are drawing not only in the country itself but also worldwide.

Equally strong is the interest of foreign journalists in securing a place in the press centre of the Zappeion palace hall on the election night to broadcast live the election race.

More foreign journalists have requested accreditation

According to sources, there are 450 accredited journalists and their number is increasing with the approach of 25 January. Interestingly, the majority of the accredited journalists are foreigners, not Greeks. Of those 450 journalists who have accreditation, 250 are representatives of foreign media and there are 100 foreign press correspondents residing in Greece. Foreign journalists will come from 37 countries, not only from Europe but also from the USA, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt.

Representatives of the largest foreign media will arrive in Greece

Among the foreign journalists, there will be representatives of the 22 largest news agencies in the world, 53 TV stations and 20 radio stations. It seems this time the interest will be greater than that in the 2012 elections, when there were 640 accredited media representatives. A lot of representatives of foreign embassies are also interested in following the developments.

The first estimates of the election results are expected at 9:30 pm on Sunday

About two and a half hours after the closing of polling stations, i.e. around 9:30 pm on Sunday, the Singular Logic company will present the first estimates of the election results and will announce whether they are reliable, as this time the election race is a bit peculiar.

As pointed out by company President and CEO Michalis Kariotoglou for the Kathimerini newspaper, "The special feature of the upcoming elections is the fact that there are a large number of smaller parties that will probably be close to 3%. We will find out how reliable our first estimates are and will make an announcement at about 9:30 pm."

The result will be sent, encrypted, via mobile phones

In 4,815 polling stations, or 25% of all stations in the country, the chair person of election commissions will be supplied with mobile phones with which they will send a coded message with the results to Singular Logic as soon as the counting of the votes in the relevant section is completed. According to Michalis Kariotoglou, this is the most rapid and the most secure way to report the results that will lead to a reliable assessment of the election results in the whole country. He explained that the polling stations equipped with that system have been selected primarily on the basis of technical rather than of political criteria, but it is clear that the preference is not for too small sections the results at which are not representative of the picture at the national level. The majority of the results from the polling stations equipped with the SRT system are usually obtained between 08:00 pm to 09:00 pm, if the polls have closed at 07:00 pm.

For the first time in these elections, the districts will be able to enter the preferential vote in the system but Singular Logic believes that, with the exception of Athens and Piraeus, the results of the preferential vote in other areas of the country will be entered the next day, when the counting of the ballots will be completed. Also in these elections, half of the first instance courts in Greece will be connected to the central system of the Ministry of Interior in relation to receiving the results.

 

Tags: Parliamentary electionsGreeceForeign journalistsAccreditation
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