Greece will pay 20 percent less to hold a general election on May 6 than it cost in 2009, as the government tries to cut down on spending in a second year of austerity measures. The May 6 vote will cost more than 60 million euros ($79 million), according to initial estimates by the country’s Interior Ministry. Greece’s Supreme Court will announce tomorrow those parties taking part in the election. A total 9.85 million citizens are eligible to vote in one of the 20,560 polling stations in the country, that is 360,000 more than in 2009, Interior Minister Tassos Yannitsis said at a press conference in Athens today.
Vote counting and data processing will be handled by Greek computer software and services company SingularLogic SA at a cost of 2.5 million euros, compared to 3 million euros in 2009, Yiannitsis said. SingularLogic has been in charge of the country’s elections data collection, process and distribution since 1981. The software distributor will give an initial estimate of the final result at about 9:30 p.m., Chief Executive Officer Marica Labrou told reporters in Athens today. The estimate will be based on half of all votes cast from 5,000 voting points, Labrou said.
Source: Greece Plans to Cut Election Spending by 20% to 60 Million Euros – Bloomberg.
