Join us Sunday, January 15, at 2 P.M. EST/ 9 P.M. Athens EEST for EMBCA’s “Hellenic Republic Voting and the Diaspora” Webinar Panel Discussion. The panel discussion will be introduced and moderated by Lou Katsos EMBCA’s President. Our distinguished panel will include Author/Poet Nicholas Alexiou, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the American Hellenic Project (HAP); Author/Writer /Historian Alexander Billinis; Hellenic Independent Politician and Former Hellenic Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis; Nick Theodoropoulos, Secretary of Hellenic Diaspora Affairs at Nea Dimokratia; Stavros Basseas PHD President and CTO of Nantsound; and Fotis Kapetopoulos head of Kape Communications and senior writer/consultant for Neos Kosmos (English edition). The event will include panel representation from other Hellenic political parties and be an informative discussion which will include conditions for registration in the Hellenic special electoral lists of foreign voters, voting for elections outside the Hellenic territory (conditions, deadlines, , diaspora voting rights, where to vote, etc.), among other things.

In a historic , although restrictive step, some Hellenes living abroad will for the first time be able to vote under new guidelines. Up until December 2019 Hellenic citizens permanently living abroad and who were on the electoral roll of Hellas could only vote in a national election if they traveled to Hellas to vote and the ability to vote in one’s permanent residency abroad had been a long standing demand of politically active first generation Hellenes in the Diaspora for decades. The political confrontations and the public discussion in Hellas, regarding the voting rights for Hellenes Abroad is revealing in many ways, of the current nature of the relationship between the “mother” country and its Diaspora, and in the Diaspora regarding Hellas. We hope this discussion contributes to an ongoing conversation between Hellas and its Diaspora relating to Hellenic citizenship and voting rights.

EMBCA is an organization exempt from Federal Income Tax under Internal Revenue (IRC) Section 501(c)(3), classified as a public charity, and qualifies to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under Section 2055, 2106, or 2522 . Donors can deduct contributions they make under IRC Section 170. Thank you all again for your continuing enthusiasm and support of our events !!