By Penelope Galliou

THE first ballot of the self-governing elections closed and the citizens “spoke”, as all political leaders always like to say at the end of an election battle. And the specific electoral process may also have the second phase next Sunday, which will close the open fronts left by the first Sunday of the self-governing elections, but the messages are already quite clear. Messages which, in the light of the party staffs and each reading, gave an air of victory and satisfaction not only to the prevailing ND but also to PASOK and the KKE, highlighting “three winners” based on the statements of the political leaders.

The political dimension, which from the first moment the ND and himself Kyriakos Mitsotakis they gave in the self-governing elections, it was confirmed, with the great majority of the regions of the country that ND had “bet” on, painted “blue”.

“As for the political message of this ballot box, I believe that the citizens have reaffirmed their trust in New Democracy and in the choices it made,” the prime minister said outside the party headquarters on Piraeus Street and intended “from then on, his blue map of these elections must be a blue of creation, a blue of the continuous battle with everyday life. From tomorrow, the government will obviously continue its work as usual, the implementation of the major changes and reforms that the country needs. And, of course, for next week we will continue to fight for the second round, in those matches that were not decided this Sunday”.

The reading of the result by SYRIZA and the opening to PASOK

The new president of SYRIZA also commented on the message of the ballot box Stefanos Kasselakis, as only in one district in the second round does a candidate of the official opposition party pass. A statement that, however, seems to open a new chapter for SYRIZA, as the opening call of the new president of the party to Harilaou Trikoupi was clear.

“Today was a first message about the need for our country to have a new large progressive faction that will be able to govern the country,” said Mr. Kasselakis, referring however to candidates in the self-governing elections who came down with the anointing or with “informal” support of PASOK, or coming from PASOK.

“You see it in many cases, you also see it in Thessaly. We will be by his side Curette. In Thessaloniki, the progressive candidates prevailed. THE Ioakeimidis in Attica he took second place. I thank him Kostas Zachariadis for the game. He is also Harry Doukas in Athens. All progressive Athenians must support the fight against Kostas Bakoyiannis, who despite five years in power lost percentages” commented Stefanos Kasselakis while giving the slogan of joining PASOK in the second round of the self-governing elections next Sunday, trying to erect a common front of Koumoundourou-Harilaou Trikoupis against the Piraeus candidates.

The new president of SYRIZA emphasized the need to renew his party, adopting the opinion of Alexis Tsipras that “SYRIZA needs renewal, yesterday” as he said and added “Tomorrow needs renewal. Tomorrow we build the new progressive extension. We will highlight new faces. Our party is open to all persons who wish to contribute. SYRIZA did not have a large presence in the social fabric of the country. The responsibility I take is to build the presence in the social fabric of the country. We start this renewal from tomorrow” concluded Mr. Kasselakis.

A wind of optimism and satisfaction in PASOK

The call of the newly elected leader of SYRIZA found Harilaou Trikoupi’s door closed – at least for the time being – as Nikos Androulakis, during his statements after the election result, avoided commenting directly and was quick to “engrain” the positive results brought by the candidates who were supported by PASOK or come from the faction and limited its own “opening” to the citizens. “I call on other progressive and democratic citizens of all political stripes to stand with us in this fight over the next seven days. Because our concern is a self-government that will serve the citizen. A self-government that will have a project and offer, making proper use of European programs. And not a “long-handed” self-government of Mr. Mitsotakis and Megaros Maximos throughout Greece,” stressed Mr. Androulakis.

Earlier, commenting on the result, the president of PASOK estimated that his party “continues its steady upward course” stressing that “it is clearly the second force in self-government by a large margin” and continued “However, we have great challenges ahead of us. *We have much more to achieve and we will achieve it together with the democratic progressive world of the country because the great challenge and the great goal is one: Our faction, the democratic faction, will be in the next national elections the reliable progressive force, which will face with success the New Democracy”.

In response to a question regarding the statements of the President of SYRIZA, Mr. Androulakis noted that “Our anxiety is that in the next national elections, New Democracy will have a reliable, worthy, strong opponent. And this will not be achieved with a show. This will be achieved with a daily struggle, with a structured political program, with positions inside the Parliament and outside it. Be assured that this is our agony.

I am sure that with renewal, unity, clear reason we will succeed. Because the New Democracy governs for three months and within these three months, instead of dealing with the problems, new ones are piling up.”

Satisfaction from the KKE

G.G. read out the results of the ballot positively for the KKE. of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoubas who estimated that “they confirm positive processes that are taking place, just 3 months after the parliamentary elections, although the correlation is still very negative”.

Mr. Koutsoubas also assessed that “slowly but steadily, a trend of questioning the dominant politics, its class character in favor of capitalist interests, is being stabilized and strengthened, a certain liberation of working-people’s forces from the bourgeois parties is taking place, prestige and trust are rising in the KKE, the militant association with the KKE is growing throughout the country”.