By Antonis Anzoletou

Abstention was the protagonist in the self-governing elections and the second round, playing a catalytic role in the final results. Especially in the municipalities, participation fell to 40.71% (52.50% in the first round) and in the regions to 35.16% (52.53% in the first round). “Champion” once again was Athens as the abstention reached 73.27%. More than 7 out of 10 Athenians decided not to vote and more or less the same percentages abstained in Thessaloniki (67.43%). With the regions of Attica and Central Macedonia having been decided from the first round, it is a fact that interest was reduced for the two big cities. All the lights turned on Athens, as the biggest surprise took place. The ballot once again proved to be unpredictable, as the lead of Kostas Bakoyannis over Harry Doukas it was, according to many, irreversible. In Thessaloniki, the dominance of Stelios Angeloudis over Konstantinos Zervas was clear.

The balance in the municipal council of Athens has now changed and the faction of Haris Doukas will occupy 26 seats in the municipal council, compared to 8 of that of Kostas Bakoyannis. 3 seats will be won by the “Open City” of Kostas Zachariadis and two seats by the “Popular Gathering” of Nikos Sofianos and the convicted Ilias Kasidiaris. The combinations of Kostas Papadakis and Eleni Papadopoulou will have one seat.

Since 2019, New Democracy had seen a bad result. For the blue faction, the goal of “13+3” turned out to be overly optimistic with the “rebels” of the party spoiling the plans of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. What “hurt” the majority the most – and sent political messages to Maximos for alertness – was the loss of the two large municipalities, as well as the Thessaly. The new electoral map includes seven regions in blue (Attica, Central Macedonia, Central Greece, Epirus, Western Greece, Peloponnese, South Aegean) four white regions won by independent candidates (Western Macedonia, Northern Aegean, Ionian Islands, Eastern Macedonia – Thrace) , a green one (Crete) and a pink-green one (Thessaly).

The results in the municipalities clearly show that the PASOK is gaining momentum that Nikos Androulakis will try to take advantage of in the coming period in view of the European elections. According to the official anointings, the support given, as well as the origin of the new mayors, New Democracy prevailed in 25 large municipalities nationwide: Glyfada George Papanikolaou, Drama George Papadopoulos, Kalamata Athanassios Vassilopoulos, Nikaia – Ag. Ioanni Rentis Kostas Maragakis, Xanthi Stratos Kontos, Palaio Faliro Ioannis Fostiropoulos, Pavlou Mela Dimitris Aslanidis, Pella Stathis Fountoukidis, Pylaia – Hortiati Ignatios Kaitezidis, Trikkaion Nikos Sakkas, Chalkideon Eleni Vaka, Agios Dimitrios Stelios Mamalakis s, Stavros Tsirbas of Agios Anargyro, Giorgos Papanastasiou of Agriniou , Amarousiou Theodoros Ambatzoglou, Ampelokipon – Menemeni Lazaros Kyrizoglou, Acharnon Spyros Vrettos, Varis – Voulas – Vouliagmeni Grigoris Konstandellos, Galatsiou George Markopoulos, Karditsa Vassilis Tsiakos, Katerinis Ioannis Doumos, Central Corfu Charalambos Penindarchou, Kifissias Vassilis Xipo lytas, Kordelio – Evosmou Eleftherios Alexandridis, Athanasios Mamakos of Larissa.

PASOK prevailed in 19 large municipalities: Athens Haris Doukas, Piraeus Yiannis Moralis, Aigaleo Lampros Sklavounos, Veria Kostas Borgiazidis, Byron Alexis Sotiropoulos, Ilioupoli Stathis Psyrropoulos, Kallithea Kostas Askounis, Komotini Ioannis Garanis, Korinthion Nikos Hoursalas, Mytilene Panagiotis Christofas, Serron Varvara Mitliaga, Theodoros Papadopoulos of Thermis, Andriana Alevizou Koukovinou of Ilio, Thomas Begas of Ioannina, Theodoros Mouriadis of Kavala, Chrysa Arapoglou of Kalamaria, Simos Danielidis of Sykeon of Neapolis, Giorgos Marinakis of Rethymnon, Panagiotis Simandirakis of Chania.

The record for him is important KKE who saw his own candidate winning in the municipalities of Patreon Kostas Peletidis, Petroupolis Evangelos Simos, Chaidariou Michalis Selekos, Kaisarianis Ilias Stamelos. But also in smaller municipalities such as in Tyrnavos with Asterios Tsikritsis and in Ikaria with Fanourios Karoutsos. The report is low for SYRIZA, which is represented by mayors in three large municipalities: Chalandriou Simos Roussos, Zografou Tina Kafatsaki, Keratsini-Drapetsona Christos Vrettakos

The statistics of the results show that women did not do so well in relation to their election. And the parties that did not support or promote enough women’s candidacies may have a big responsibility. In the region, all 13 heads are men, while in the country’s 332 municipalities only 22 women were elected. It is, however, a little better than in the past, as in 2019 17 women were elected to the position of mayor and in 2014 only 15.

There were also thrillers in the second round with some municipalities being won literally by the thread. A typical case is Tyrnavos, where Asterios Tsikritsis prevailed with a difference of 35 votes from the runner-up Athanasios Amari – Samer. In New Philadelphia, Yiannis Tombouloglou was elected mayor with a 90-vote margin over actor Yiannis Vouros. The difference is also small in Western Achaia of 181 votes with Grigoris Alexopoulos winning with 50.54%, while the difference was marginal in Palamas with Sokratis Daskalopoulos winning by 11 crosses.

13 current mayors were re-elected and remained in office. It is characteristic that in Attica only four renewed their term for the next five years. Isidoros Madis in Paania, Ilias Apostolopoulos in the municipality of Papagou – Cholargou, Nikos Babalos in Heraklion and Simos Roussos in Chalandri. A total of 49 upsets were scored with the runner-up of the first round closing the gap and winning.

The highest percentages in the second round were recorded by: Lampros Sklavounos Aigaleo 75.31%, Panagiotis Margetis Megareon 68.09%, Stelios Angeloudis Thessaloniki 67.33%, Panagiotis Dais Igoumenitsa 65.55%, Christos Christodoulopoulos Ilida 63.75%, Panagiotis Manouris Nea Ionia 63.67%.