The bill for the civil marriage of same-sex couples was passed by a wide majority, but also with several cross-party differences, on Thursday night in the Plenary Session of the Parliament.
The draft law restoring equality between heterosexual and same-sex couples in civil marriage was supported by the Parliamentary Groups of New Democracy, SYRIZA, PASOK, New Left and Freedom Movement, while KKE, Spartans, Hellenic Solution and Victory voted against. . 176 voted yes, 76 no, 2 present, while there were 46 abstentions.
However, it is noted that, according to a communication with journalists that George Karasmanis of ND had, he says that by mistake his vote was counted as yes, while he voted against. If the truth of what he said is confirmed on Friday by the services of the Parliament, the distribution of yes and no votes will change.
The five Parliamentary Groups that supported the proposed regulations have a total of 243 MPs, which means that 67 differed, choosing either to abstain or against.
In summary, the 20 nos of the ND: Charalambos Athanasiou, Fotini Arabatzi, Vassilis Yogiakas, Stefanos Gikas, Kostas Giulekas, Thanasis Davakis, Anastasios Dimoshakis, Kostas Karagounis, Anna Karamanli, Theodoros Karaoglou, Andreas Katsaniotis, Dimitris Kyriazidis, Theophilos Leontar idis, Fondas Baraliakos, Yannis Paschalidis, Marios Salmas, Antonis Samaras, Euripides Stylianidis, Maximos Charakopoulos, Miltos Chrysomallis,
Abstinences
ND 31: Dionysis Aktypis, Yiannis Andrianos, Lakis Vassiliadis, Kostas Vlasis, George Vlachos, Makis Voridis, George Georgantas, Yiannis Yiatsios, Andreas Zambilis, Thanasis Kavvadas, Yiannis Kallianos, Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, Markos Kafouros, Stavros Keletsis, Maria Kefala, Manos Console .
PASOK 11: Odysseas Konstantinopoulos, Evangelia Liakoulis, Stavros Michaelidis, Burhan Baran, Stavros Nikolaidis, Apostolos Panas, Panagiotis Paraskevaidis, Andreas Poulas, Christina Starakas, Manolis Chnaris, Katerina Kazanis.
It is worth noting that the surprises of PASOK were Mr. Parasiris and Mrs. Vatsina, who initially had reservations. However, it seems that the "massage" of Nikos Androulakis worked like a fire extinguisher, as at noon on Thursday he had a critical meeting together with the two deputies of Heraklion in his office in the Parliament. In this debate, the president of PASOK managed to convince the two MPs to vote in favor of the bill.
New Left 2: Husein Zeibek, Ferhat Ozgur.
SYRIZA 2: Othon Iliopoulos, Pavlos Polakis – And a "present" from SYRIZA Nina Kasimati
A total of 51 differences from the ND - Confrontation with PASOK
Based on the results, 51 differences were recorded by ND MPs, either by voting against or by abstaining from voting. One minister – Makis Voridis – and three deputy ministers abstained from the vote.
ND executives said after the result that 68% voted for ND and 66% for PASOK. As they pointed out, PASOK, which claims primacy in the reformist center, had a lower percentage of "yes" votes than ND.
In response, PASOK underlined with its own leak: "Any attempt by the ND to make numerical comparisons is groundless and at least politically incorrect, when 1/3 of the parliamentary group of the ND did not vote for the bill proposed by its government. It is typical that 20 MPs voted against the former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras first, who even presented a distinct platform, 31 ND MPs abstained and the Minister of State Makis Voridis called the government bill unconstitutional. This major institutional change would not have been possible without the positive vote of PASOK and the other opposition parties, as only 107 MPs from the coalition supported the bill."
The abstinence of Polaki, the present of Kasimati
Pavlos Polakis and the Member of State, Othon Iliopoulos, were the only SYRIZA MPs who abstained from today's vote on marriage equality.
Despite the party discipline imposed by Stefanos Kasselakis, the coordinator of the party's department heads broke the party line and did not attend the Plenary Session of the Parliament.
Explaining his position in a written statement and posting on Facebook, immediately after the conclusion of the vote in the Parliament, Pavlos Polakis tried to explain, among other things, that he is in favor of the same rights of all people, which cannot be separated based on their sexual orientation.
He emphasized that his objections and concerns regarding the disputed bill for equality in civil marriage, "mainly concern the extension of rights, through European Law, to procreation and the right to have children through surrogacy. I believe that any legal issues that existed could be resolved by expanding the provisions of the cohabitation agreement."
Polakis' statement-post in detail:
Office of the Member of Parliament of Chania
Pavlos Polakis
Athens, 15 February 2024
Written statement of EPEKE Coordinator and former Deputy Minister of Health P. Polakis
Regarding my abstention today from the Y/N vote on civil marriage equality I would like to emphasize that:
1. I do not accept lessons in progressiveness from the Mitsotakis government which just a week ago was condemned by a resolution from the European Parliament regarding the rule of law in Greece. K. Mitsotakis is trying to wash away the surveillance, the lack of pluralism in the media, the threats and lawsuits against journalists, the return of immigrants, etc., through the S/N on marriage equality, but without daring to clash with the extreme right wing of the SW.
2. I recognize that all people should have the same rights and I have fought in my life for this. Sexual orientation cannot separate our fellow human beings and that is why I also voted for the cohabitation agreement in 2015 in contrast to the 36 ND MPs who either voted against or abstained.
The objections and concerns I have regarding the controversial civil marriage equality bill mainly relate to the extension of rights, through European Law, to procreation and the right to have children through surrogacy. I believe that any legal issues that existed could be resolved by expanding the provisions of the cohabitation agreement.
3. Because I foresee a tendency to put those who did not vote Y/N in the same bag, I would like to separate my position from the extremely homophobic statements made by the "extreme right-wing religious people" inside and outside the Parliament. I neither had, nor have, nor will I ever have in the future a relationship with obscurantism and I don't expect votes from this space.
I was, am and will be of the left-wing popular identity, democracy, labor rights, wealth redistribution and social upheaval.
4. I am of the opinion, after what was revealed about the assisted reproduction unit of Chania - which is being investigated for the exploitation of women who were used as surrogate mothers - that the legal framework should be greatly tightened for heterosexual couples as well, regarding the surrogate pregnancy.
5. Since the Mitsotakis system does nothing by chance, it does not surprise me that the well-known fund CVC recently made significant investments in the field of assisted reproduction.
6. In a bill where dozens of MPs differed, it is really funny that the noise is made again about my own position.
The attempted attempt to hurt SYRIZA will fall on deaf ears. United, we will go to the conference, which will also be the springboard for the reconstruction and restart of the party on the way to the European elections.
The Member of Parliament of Chania had actually announced in the afternoon the attitude he would take by uploading photos of the surgery he had.
Specifically, with his post in which he referred to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Pavlos Polakis said, among other things, not to look for him, as he has a very serious job, which saves lives, while he clarified that it concerned his relative.
In fact, he also presented four photos from the hospital.
Specifically, in his post he said: "Kyriako Mitsotakis, you caught me in your mouth again??? DON'T LOOK FOR ME!! I have a job and a very serious one that saves lives. If you can tell from the 4 photos, it's good, otherwise ask them to explain what I did. Photo 1 before, photo 2-3 the intervention, photo 4 the after. (The patient is my relative)".
It is noted that the Prime Minister said earlier in the Parliament, during the discussion of the bill on same-sex couples: "to see how many will stay away from you, Mr. Famelle, let's not have any other surprises in the evening and the interest instead turns to New Democracy turns to you and what Mr. Polakis will do in the end, whom you have almost threatened with deletion".
After the absence of Polakis from tonight's vote, the... ball is now in the hands of the president of SYRIZA who had previously announced sanctions against SYRIZA MPs who would not vote for the bill for same-sex couples. As is known, Stefanos Kasselakis had harshly criticized the ND and Kyriakos Mitsotakis and for the fact that he allowed ND ministers and MPs to abstain from voting.
Finally, it is worth noting that Nina Kasimati declared herself "present" at the beginning, while she voted "yes" on some articles.
Without "no" PASOK
On the 11th, abstentions from PASOK were limited, while no member of parliament proceeded to vote against the bill. It is characteristic that even the Muslim Ahmet Ilhan converted and said "yes" with a postal vote, as did the deputies Vatsina, Spyridaki.
Source: KYPE