In every election, the “battle of Crete” has a special place, which this year has even more special characteristics.
Of Antonis Angeletou
The regions and prefectures of the country are put under the “microscope” by the party staffs, having now in their hands the final data of the census.
In each election, a special place is held by “battle of Crete» which this year has even more special features.
The island has always had a center-left orientation.
Approximately 582,000 citizens will be asked to decide in a short period of time who wishes to govern the country and accordingly the 15 seats of the island will change or remain in the same hands.
Crete was painted green on the electoral map in 1977, when the PASOK came first in the prefectures of Chania and Heraklion. From 1981 onwards the green sun shone continuously and uninterruptedly for many years.
THE Andreas Papandreou he had managed to keep the island in his majority possession even in the three electoral battles of 1989 and 1990.
It is recalled that the percentages of New Democracy and Konstantinou Mitsotakis at that time they had exceeded 46% in the polls twice.
In the 1980s, there were previous electoral contests in which PASOK had broken the 60% barrier, giving mythical dimensions to its victories.
For 28 years, until 2009, the island was Harilaou Trikoupi’s “castle” and seemed “impregnable”.
The only exception was in 2007 when the blue faction with Costas Karamanlis leader managed to cut the thread first in Rethymno.
In the elections of May 2012, with the party now losing significant forces, the green color was maintained in Rethymnon, Heraklion and Lasithi, while the SYRIZA “he was showing his teeth» winning Chania.
Forty-one days after the party of Alexis Tsipras takes over from PASOK and paints the whole island pink.
Koumoundourou manages to be the strong force in the double ballots of 2015, but even in 2019 when it lost power to New Democracy.
The last polls had a peculiarity.
It was not only the decay of the 4.5 years of government, but the origin and the close ties of Kyriakos Mitsotakis with the island that greatly reduced the distance between the two parties.
It is characteristic that in Chania SYRIZA lost 4.32% of its strength with the N.D. compared to September 2015. to be strengthened by 14.65%.
In Heraklion, the party of Alexis Tsipras fell by 1.99% and the blue faction won 9.82 points. The most indicative cases were Rethymno and Lassithi where SYRIZA finished first with a difference of 205 and 103 votes respectively from New Democracy.
The upcoming elections are particularly crucial and the political symbolism that the island gives is very important.
THE Alexis Tsipras wants Crete to remain a “castle” of SYRIZA, otherwise we will see a retreat of the party in a region with strong center-left origins.
THE Kyriakos Mitsotakis with the penetration he had three and a half years ago, he does not want to miss the opportunity to win all four prefectures for the first time, while Nikos Androulakis also plays his strong card there.
He grew up in Heraklion, he comes from Lasithi and in PASOK they want Crete to send the message of the movement’s resurgence to the large percentages nationwide.
The “safari» of the search for candidates has been started for a long time by the three gladiators who attempt at the local level to build partnerships and exploit existing ties.
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I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have been an author at News Bulletin 247 for the past 2 years. I mostly cover politics news. I am a highly experienced and respected journalist. I have won numerous awards for my work.
