The results of the Greek elections were announced faster than ever on the evening of Sunday, 21 May, thanks to the use of new technologies. The new capabilities that SingularLogic brought to the election process made it possible to announce the first estimate of the result just 90 minutes after the polls closed.

SingularLogic, responsible for transmitting the official results, used specially configured tablets and the SRT system (Secure Election Results Transmission System).

A tablet was placed in each polling station, through which the results were transmitted in real-time. During the elections, the tablets were used to convey participation percentages in the electoral process. In this way, there was an immediate and accurate capture of the abstention rates before the elections were completed.

The SRT system

The main difference compared to the past is the fact that this year, for the first time, SingularLogic used the SRT system in all of the approximately 21,500 polling stations in the country. SingularLogic piloted this system in 2009.

Entering the results on the SRT device was extremely simple through the special and easy-to-use application supported by the tablets. The device was activated only through accredited dealers using special security codes. The application provided the ability to cover not only the results in favour of the combinations but also in favour of the candidates.

For the first time this year, a few hours after the completion of the elections, there was an unequivocal picture of the result.
The process of secure transmission (SRT), however, did not abolish the process of transmitting the result through the special forms, which were filled in parallel. In this way, there was a simultaneous transmission of results both digitally and in print.

Centre-right Mitsotakis hails big win

Greece’s conservative prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has won national elections, hailing his party’s big victory as a “political earthquake”. The ruling New Democracy party secures commanding victory over left-wing Syriza, but Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hints at a new poll. The New Democracy party did not secure the required majority to form a government in the first round of the elections, despite its large predominance with a difference of almost 20% compared to the second party.

The Greeks of the diaspora also participated in the elections. “Without a doubt, the political earthquake that occurred today calls on us all to speed up the process for a definitive government solution so our country can have an experienced hand at its helm as soon as possible,” Mitsotakis said in his address to the nation overnight.

“We kept the country upright and we’ve laid the foundations for a better nation,” he said. “We will fight the next battle together so that at the next elections what we already decided on, an autonomous New Democracy, will be realized.”

What is the future of Greece?

The result of the Greek parliamentary elections showed a clear dominance of the conservative party. Despite the poverty and unemployment that have been the country’s two major problems for a long time, the New Democracy seemed to maintain its influence on the electorate.

Many international media have commented on the parliamentary elections in Greece, with most of them focusing on the fact that the country will go to the polls again, despite the emphatic victory of New Democracy. The German news agency dpa commented on the election results, writing that coalition governments are rare and often unsuccessful in Greece.

Socialism is going through a period of deep crisis in Greece. It remains uncertain whether socialism will be able to recover soon. The Guardian points out that the difference of 20 points from the second party, SYRIZA, is something that is “rarely observed” after the fall of the Greek junta in 1974, while also noting that even in Crete, the “stronghold of the Socialists”, New Democracy did “surprisingly well”. In this effort, it is important to see which political figures from the socialist field will take the initiative on the day after the Greek elections.

Greeks have the right to vote from the age of 17, and an initial analysis of voting by Greek TV suggested that 31.5% of voters aged 17-24 backed ND, almost three points higher than Syriza.