By Antonis Anzoletou

The “Battle of Crete” did not end on May 25. THE Kyriakos Mitsotakis he toured the whole island starting his new election campaign from there. His goal is one: to consolidate the sovereignty of the New Democracy, which for the first time after the revolution he managed to “paint it all blue”. Only in 1977 and 2007 did the blue faction manage to win Rethymnon. Alexis Tsipras changed one of the three seats in which he will be a candidate, choosing the third most populous prefecture of the island. In this way, he wishes to achieve the entry of Andreas Xanthos into the Parliament, but also to prepare a counterattack. He plans to be in Crete for three days next week and of course to make a speech in the last week before the elections. In Crete, he has already been found Nikos Androulakis who managed in the last elections to “push” SYRIZA to third place in Rethymno and Lasithi. It is his homeland and he will try to improve his percentages even more by bringing back the old bipolarity on the island, even if PASOK is no longer in first place.

The imprint of the recent ballot box is clear. The dominance of New Democracy in the four constituencies with more than 550,000 registered voters can hardly be disputed. In Chania, with a percentage of 41.16%, he got 36,761 votes, winning two seats, achieving a “double score” against SYRIZA (20.64% – 18,439 votes). The PASOK in the prefecture, he increased his percentage by approximately 4% compared to 2019, recording a percentage of 10.92%, receiving 9,752 votes. In Heraklion, the blue faction also “cut the thread first” with 35.47% and SYRIZA and PASOK “fought” for second place with 22.93% and 22.81% respectively. New Democracy won three seats, from two o SYRIZA and PASOK and one KKE.

All the lights will be on Rethymno for the clash between Koumoundourou and Charilaou Trikoupi. New Democracy won the two-way county with 37.1%, with PASOK coming second with 21.47% and SYRIZA following with 21.03%. The difference in votes between PASOK and SYRIZA was only 215 with the former Minister of Health Andreas Xanthos wishing to regain his seat, which he lost to Manolis Chnaris. In Lasithi, New Democracy won with 39.98%, PASOK followed with 21.47% and SYRIZA with 17.76%. Alexis Tsipras and Nikos Androulakis, who hails from Psychro Lasithiou, are preparing for another derby between second and third place. The pressure received by the official opposition on the island in all four regions was very great since in total it lost half of its strength in each electoral region. Beyond the essence, which has to do with the number of seats, the symbolism of Crete as a traditional “castle” of the center-left is special in every electoral contest.