By Penelope Galliou

Two twenty-four hours before the curtain falls on the pre-election period of the self-governing elections in Piraeus, they are running the final “barrier” in order to achieve the best possible result in a battle in which the Prime Minister himself has attributed the characteristics of a “political bet”.

And may the great battle and the lights have fall in the 13 Regions and the three large municipalities of the country, Athens, Thessaloniki and Piraeus, the toughest battles, however, for the blue faction are expected to be fought with the so-called “rebels” who come from the ND but come down against the candidates who received the “anointing” of Piraeus Street.

The big bet for Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the Peloponnese where he himself as well as many top Piraeus executives rushed to support the candidacy of Dimitris Ptochos, a capable executive who symbolizes renewal and is facing the former blue executive Petros Tatoulis who has served as regional governor in the past and with the support of the ND while in the last self-governing elections he was defeated by the outgoing regional governor Panagiotis Nikas who won in 2019 with the support of the ND.

A tough battle is also expected in the Northern Aegean where Alkiviadis Stefanis was chosen to face the current Regional Governor Kostas Mouzouris, who had managed to win in 2019, having gone down as a “rebel” against Christiana Kalogirou.

The former Deputy Minister of Defense is estimated to be ahead of his electoral opponent, as recently it appears that he has covered the distance that separated him from Mr. Moutzouris.

Western Macedonia is also a bet for the prime minister, where the regional governor election also seems to have the characteristics of a “blue derby” as the former ND MP, Giorgos Amanatidis, who did not succeed to be elected in the last national elections.

Following these, the “division” of the blue voters may make it difficult to elect Giorgos Kasapidis from the first round, as happened in 2019, and go to the “extension” of the second Sunday.

A fact that pushed the prime minister himself, just twenty-four hours before the polls, to go to Kozani and emphatically support Mr. Kassapidis with his presence, setting the tone for the ND voters.

The contest in the Region of the Ionian Islands, between the blue candidates, is also fluid, as the current regional governor Rodi Kratsa, who is supported by Piraeus, has opposite the former mayor of Corfu, also from the ND Yiannis Trepeklis. A matchup that I believe will lead to another blue bar de fer, excluding the SYRIZA candidate, Theodoros Galiatsatos, from the second round.

The race in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace is also expected to be ambivalent, where apart from the unknown impact that the devastating fires of the summer may have, it seems that the blue rivalry of 2019 will be repeated with the current regional governor Christos Metios going down against Christodoulos Topsidis.

It is a derby which has similar characteristics to 2019 as in the previous elections it was decided for less than four thousand votes.

Finally, under the weightless factor of the recent disasters in Thessaly, the match there is also expected to be decided.

Before the floods, Kostas Agorastos was considered the favorite of the match from the very first round and with a very high percentage, the developments, however, have overshadowed the elections, making the result fluid, without excluding a surprise from Mr. Agorastos.

After all, Piraeus estimates that Dimitris Kouretas, who is supported by PASOK and SYRIZA, registers low percentages in the polls, which is interpreted as not being able to “subversively” threaten the re-election of Mr. Agorastos, even in a possible second round.