By Antonis Anzoletou

By the end of August, the nominations for the regions and municipalities of the country should have been submitted, with the parties in a fever of processes. There was no respite after the two consecutive national elections, as the stakes are high for both New Democracy and SYRIZA. THE Kyriakos Mitsotakis wishes – based on the percentage of June 25 – to paint the whole of Greece “blue” and for SYRIZA not to charge the new leader with another painful defeat. PASOK wants to prove that the increase in its percentages is not accidental. The primary goal is to support the large urban centers that appeared weak in the parliamentary polls. The “blue faction” is clearly better prepared, as it has already announced its candidacies in the 13 regions of the country.

In Athens, support for Kostas Bakoyannis and in Thessaloniki to the mayor Konstantinos Zervas, who ran as an independent in 2019. In Piraeus, Yiannis Moralis will be a candidate, even if he does not come from the ND. In Heraklion, Crete, Michalis Karamalakis, former leader of EL.AS, will be supported and in Larissa, Thanasis Mamakos.

Its central line SW is to support incumbent mayors who had the support of the party four years ago. In the areas where there are more candidates, coming from the faction, the support will be softer, but in the second round there will be an identification.

In Koumoundourou they are still unprepared. The original planning included the Political Secretariat meeting today. Christos Spirtzis participated in the self-governing committee, but he resigned from the body and his place was taken by Stefanos Tzoumakas, candidate for the presidency. Giorgos Ioakeimidis is reportedly “locked in” as the independent candidate who will be supported by SYRIZA in the Attica Region. “Grifos” is the municipality of Athens, with the name of basketball player Nikos Pappas still on the table. If PASOK consented to Dimitris Vervesos, SYRIZA would not exclude his support. Everything shows, however, that Nikos Androulakis is planning something different for the country’s first municipality.

For her Thessaloniki the name of Spyrou Pegas, who has served as deputy mayor in the combination of Yannis Boutaris, has been heard very strongly in meetings of the General Assembly. It is recalled that Giorgos Gavrilis has “locked” for Piraeus. In the region of Epirus, the name of Yiannis Stefos, who came second in votes in Ioannina in the last elections, plays strongly. Apostolos Gletsos will be the party’s candidate in Central Greece. Closer to the Ionian Islands, Thodoris Galiatsatos seems to be locked up. For Western Greece, Miltos Zambaras, the MP for Etoloakarnania, has been very vocal.

Several officials of Koumundourou have argued that front-line officials should come forward in the self-governing elections. Charilaou Trikoupis assures that there is no case of cooperation with SYRIZA in order to put down a common candidate. For the region of Attica, it is possible to support the experienced Giannis Sgouros. Christos Papastergiou has locked himself in Central Macedonia. In Western Macedonia, the candidate will be Georgia Zebeliadou.