By Antonis Anzoletou

Whether in island or mainland Greece, political leaders have already begun to “plough” the region.

In an electoral battle, which, although it concerns the next representatives in Brussels and Strasbourg, has strong characteristics of a national ballot box. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Stefanos Kasselakis and Nikos Androulakis have taken the “game on them” very early on.

In New Democracy, they have marked on the map the areas where the percentage was below the 41% obtained nationwide.

The prime minister, in the interview he gave yesterday to the SKAI news bulletin and Kosionis Co., set the bar at 33%, which was the result of the 2019 European elections.

In two prefectures, the blue faction recorded the lowest percentages by quite a large margin. It is about Rodopi where it received 28.89% and Xanthi with 30.32%. To the north they have turned their interest to Piraeus, as the “bleeding” from its right is quite large.

It is the audience that Kyriakos Velopoulos has focused his interest on, investing a lot in the protest vote towards the government. Equally great is the attention that will be paid to Thessaly. Catastrophic floods will naturally lead voters of the current majority either to abstention or to some other “political shelter”.

It is a bet that Crete will remain “blue”, however, since Attica is home to approximately half of the country’s population, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected, with targeted appearances, to persevere with the public of the basin.

Last June, New Democracy managed to win in popular neighborhoods by “dethroning” SYRIZA and this is something they wish to maintain.

The president of SYRIZA started his tour from the four prefectures of Crete, where the official opposition lost the primaries it had held since June 2012.

In a traditional “castle” of the progressive faction, the blow of the summer was very big, as SYRIZA found itself represented in Chania and Heraklion by only one MP. In comparison, in September 2015, Koumoundourou had ten MPs on the island, while in 2019, despite the defeat, it had elected six. The pink color on the map was also lost from other traditional “castles”, in which the staffs aim for a better result.

In Achaia the primacy had not been contested since May 2012, when for the first time SYRIZA was in the position of the official opposition with a percentage of 16.78%. The same is true for the most popular neighborhoods of Athens, where accuracy has hit the “popular strata”. West Attica and West Athens dealt a “total blow” to the party in the summer and in Koumoundourou they wish to change this image.

The “naval week” launched by the SYRIZA president also has a special purpose.

The first stop was the Cyclades, where from the 28.32% that SYRIZA scored in 2019, this June it fell well below the average for the entire region (14.14%). In general, for island Greece, the “mantatas” were not good in the summer and thus the party has sounded an “alarm”. The focus will already be on the Dodecanese, where SYRIZA came third in the summer with a percentage of 13.07%.

Before Holy Monday, Mr. Kasselakis will be in Mytilini (fourth is SYRIZA in 2023 with 13.49%), Chios (third with 10.52%) and Samos (third with 14.88%). Thessaly will not be out of the “frame” of Koumoundourou. They believe that the disillusionment with the government will lead many former SYRIZA voters to their base.

For PASOK, things are very specific if they want to recover and finish second on June 9.

The strengthening of the rates in the big urban centers is the big question. In Attica and Thessaloniki, Nikos Androulakis has already started his tours and will give his full weight in the next period.

PASOK was fourth in all the electoral districts of Attica, noting its best performance in West Athens (8.92%) and the worst in First Piraeus (6.70%).

Attention must also be paid to Northern Greece due to the “right turn” that is being observed. In Thessaloniki A’ Charilaou Trikoupi cut the thread fourth (8.14%) and in Thessaloniki B third (9.85%)

In Crete, the president’s place of origin, he wants to improve on the good results of the summer. In Rethymno (25.71%), Heraklion (22.98%) and Lasithi (25.58%) it finished in second place.