By Antonis Anzoletou

Sunday’s municipal elections will not be a cake walk, as they may have thought in the New Democracy camp after the sweeping victories of the summer. The first polls may not have shown a change in the political landscape, but the blue party is showing a deterioration mainly due to the natural disasters of the summer. It is not the pressure from him SYRIZA and PASOK which scares Kyriakos Mitsotakis as much as the “bad self” of the government. The local special features of the vote in six days from today, may act as punishment against the inaction shown by the state apparatus in dealing with the fires and floods that hit the country. The weather continues to test her readiness Civil Protection and each passing day is a test for the majority.

Apart from the large municipalities of Athens, Thessaloniki and Piraeus, it is clear that the choice of citizens in the regions has more political determination and the electoral map will be “painted” accordingly. This is what Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who visited Byron alongside Nikos Hardalia, said yesterday. The gaze of the blue faction is directed at the “rebels” who may deprive it of victory. Thessaly is one of the difficult regions still being tested by the floods. The opposition as a whole has harshly criticized the current regional governor Kostas Agorastos and the SYRIZA and PASOK candidate Dimitris Kouretas is fighting for a good result. Things will not be easy in Western Macedonia – Thrace with Christos Metios, however, he looks resistant to pressure despite the disaster in Dadia. His opponent is Christodoulos Topsidis, who in 2019 had lost the match between them by 3,500 votes. Kyriakos Mitsotakis was also in Corinth, as the New Democracy in the Peloponnese, he is leaning a lot on the victory of Dimitris Ptochos and the battle with Petros Tatoulis will not be easy. Battle of New Democracy – SYRIZA will be in the Ionian from the old days with Rodi Kratsa fighting to come out first against the former mayor of Corfu Yiannis Trepeklis, while Theodoros Galiatsatos from the official opposition who is very experienced is also playing very strongly. Alkiviadis Stefanis and Konstantinos Moutzouris will clash in the Northern Aegean, as will Giorgos Kasapidis and the “rebel” expelled from the New Democracy, Giorgos Amanatidis.

For SYRIZA and PASOK, their goals intersect to a degree. Koumoundourou comes after a very critical summer to prove that she is still in the game. With a new president at the helm, he wants to cut points from New Democracy and definitely enter the second round in the region of Attica and in the municipalities of Athens and Thessaloniki. This will also help Stefanos Kasselakis to declare a thunderous presence, but also to limit the murmur inside him that does not say to stop. Recent polls have not given him any momentum and that must change quickly, as he has a crucial Congress ahead of him in which to impose himself at home. Then will follow the European elections in June, where no bad result can be forgiven. Already yesterday he was found in Thessaly, but also in Central Greece. At the same time, the official opposition wants to leave PASOK behind.

Harilaou Trikoupi will try in the next period to show that it is the new potential official opposition, as they estimate that there is a very large gap in the space of the center-left. So far, he has not managed to take advantage of the government’s weaknesses, nor the “storm” prevailing in Koumoundourou. In the recent elections, Nikos Androulakis did not manage to achieve good percentages for his party in the big urban centers. They want this to be fixed immediately. In addition to Thessaly, SYRIZA and PASOK have a common candidate in Western Macedonia (Georgia Zebeliadou) and in the northern Aegean (Vasso Hochlaka).