2010 Greek local elections explained

Election Name:	2010 Greek local elections
Country:	Greece
Type:	local
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2006 Greek local elections
Previous Year:	2006
Next Election:	2014 Greek local elections
Next Year:	2014
Election Date:	7 & 14 November 2010
Map Size:	350px

The 2010 Greek local elections were held on 7 November 2010 (first round) and 14 November 2010 (second round) to elect representatives to Greece's restructured local authorities, comprising 13 regions and 325 municipalities.

Background

Traditionally, candidates at local elections do not run under the official name of any party as the constitution only foresees the participation of electoral lists (or "combinations") and not parties. Despite this theoretical independence and distinction, for all practical purposes most candidates run as local front organisations for political parties.^[1]

The election also comes at a time of increasing unrest in Greece following numerous bombs being sent to foreign embassies,^[2] as well protests against austerity measures forced by the EU and IMF in order for Greece to receive external financial support.

Issues

With the economy being touted as the mandate sought in the election Prime Minister George Papandreou said he would dissolve the national parliament should the candidates of his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) fail to win an unspecified threshold. "Citizens will decide in today's election if we will hold steady on the path of salvation... or if we will go back to decay and to the Greece of bankruptcy."^[3]

Election results

Major municipalities

In the municipalities, as well as the regions, any candidate can participate in the first round. If the leading candidate doesn't have the required 50%+1 of the votes, then a second round is held between the two leading candidates of the first round.

Athens

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st round %	2nd round %	Seats
	Panhellenic Socialist Movement - Ecologist Greens - Democratic Left- Portokali (Drasi & Liberal Alliance)	28.28	51.95	29
		34.97	48.05	11
Nikolaos Sofianos		13.74		3
Georgios Amyras	Independent	7.37		2
Eleni Portaliou		5.8		2
		5.29		1
Petros Konstantinou		2.87		1
Michail Iliadis	Koinonia	1.68		–

Thessaloniki

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round %	2nd Round %	Seats
		33.58	50.16	29
		37.91	49.84	13
		9.5		2
	Independent	6.04		2
		3.67		1
Armodios Stergiou		3.58		1
Christos Matis		3.45		1
Zisis Klisiaris		1.28		–
Konstantinos Vasilikos		1.0		–

Heraklion

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round %	Seats
Ioannis Kourakis		71.82	35
Emmanouil Sintichakis		12.13	6
Anastasios Iliadakis	Independent	9.55	5
Konstantinos Kabitakis		6.5	3

Patras

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round %	2nd Round %	Seats
		21.13	53.63	29
Dimitrios Katsikopoulos		35.07	46.37	9
Konstantinos Christopoulos		17.7		4
Konstantinos Peletidis		16.52		4
Christos Patouchas		4.48		1
Andreas Tzouramanis	Independent	2.64		1
Dimitrios Aivalis	Independent	2.46		1

Piraeus

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round %	2nd Round %	Seats
Vasilios Michaloliakos		23.08	51.76	29
Ioannis Michas		29.61	48.24	8
Petros Mantouvalos		18.73		5
Elpida Pantelaki		14.77		4
List of candidates entitled "Alliance for Piraeus"		7.58		2
Antonios Kalogerogiannos	Independent	3.44		1
Athanasios Diavolakis		2.71		–

Peristeri

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round %	2nd Round %	Seats
Andreas Pachatouridis	Independent	49.76	65.62	27
Dimitrios Kelafas		14.54	34.38	9
Konstantinos Lalenis		12.62		3
Grigoris Timplalexis		12.54		3
Sofia Alexopoulou		3.85		1
Athanasios Vathiotis	Independent	3.73		1
Antonia Athanasopoulou		2.96		1

Regions

Source: Hellenic Ministry of the Interior

Attica

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	Panhellenic Socialist Movement	342,555	24.05	12	522,838	52.87	49	61
Vasileios Kikilias		292,113	20.44	11	466,134	47.13	1	12
	Independent †	227,314	15.96	8				8
		205,742	14.45	8				8
		93,580	6.57	3				3
Alexios Mitropoulos	Coalition of Radical Left §	88,703	6.28	3				3
Konstantinos Diakos		57,528	4.04	2				2
Grigoris Psarianos		54,248	3.81	2				2
Aggelos Hagios		32,547	2.29	1				1
	Independent ‡	30,816	2.16	1				1

Notes:
† Ioannis Dimaras was elected a parliament member with Panhellenic Socialist Movement in the National Elections of 2009.

§ Alexios Mitropoulos is a member of the National Council of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.

‡ Alekos Alavanos is a prominent member of the Coalition of Radical Left, and although his party didn't support him officially, some fractions such as KOE, DEA and KEDA did.

Central Greece

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	126,020	39.02	10	130,189	52.93	21	31
Athanasios Cheimaras	116,399	35.2	9	115,766	47.07	4	13
	35,954	10.87	3				3
Nikolaos Papandreou	26,324	7.96	2				2
Nikolaos Stoupis	12,319	3.7	1				1
Despoina Spanoudi	10,753	3.25	1				1

Central Macedonia

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	421,859	43.19	16	406,890	52.56	27	43
Markos Bolaris	299,633	30.68	11	367,272	47.44	8	19
Theodosios Konstantinidis	88,739	9.09	3				3
Kyriakos Velopoulos	64,236	6.58	2				2
Anastasios Kourakis	35,536	3.64	1				1
Michael Tremopoulos	30,358	3.11	1				1
Asimina Xyrotyri-Asimaki	19,724	2.02	1				1
Ioannis Koutras	16,644	1.70	1				1

Crete

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round	%	Seats
		165,726	50.3	31
Dimitrios Giannoulakis	Independent †	57,735	17.52	7
Ioannis Plakiotakis		49,025	14.88	6
Stylianos Orfanos		22,863	6.93	3
Georgios Stathakis		16,224	4.92	2
Antonios Anipsitakis		12,616	3.83	1
Serafeim Rizos		5,302	1.61	1

Notes:
† Dimitrios Giannoulakis was independent at the time of the elections, but was supported by Dora Bakoyannis and is closely related to her newly founded Democratic Alliance party

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	150,257	41.75	11	158,262	51.49	20	31
	147,845	41.08	11	149,101	48,51	5	16
Christos Trellis	27,852	7.74	2				2
Dimitris Charitou	16,609	4.62	1				1
Athanasios Makris	10,787	3.00	1				1
Georgios Botsidis	6,523	1.81	–				–

Epirus

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	100,465	44.76	12	97,667	55.04	19	31
Evangelos Argyris	86,893	38.7	10	79,775	44.96	6	16
Konstantinos Konstantis	18,766	8.36	2				2
Ioannis Papadimitriou	8,054	3.59	1				1
Nikolos Zikos	5,915	2.63	1				1
Georgios Zapsas	4,407	1.96	–				–

Ionian Islands

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
		34,302	30.4	6	43,330	50.80	19	25
Ilias Beriatos		28,832	25.55	5	41,966	49.20	1	6
Giorgos Kaloudis	Independent	22.290	19.76	4				4
Theodoros Goulis		17,226	15.3	3				3
Theodoros Galatsiatos		4,940	4.38	1				1
Sotirios Vlachos		2,691	2.39	1				1
Antonia Lachanioti		2,509	2.22	1				1

North Aegean

Candidate	1st round	%	Seats	2nd round	%	Seats	Total seats
	38,952	36.32	8	43,151	50.77	17	25
	41,054	38.28	8	41,842	49.23	3	11
Efstratios Korakas	16,877	15.74	3				3
Vasileios Tentomas	4,517	4.21	1				1
Ilias Gianniris	3,453	3.22	1				1
Ignatios Tsirpelis	2,393	2.23	–				–

Peloponnese

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	157,597	41.71	11	156,960	52.53	20	31
Dimitrios Drakos	154,691	40.94	11	141,863	47.47	5	16
Nikolaos Gontikas	25,669	6.79	2				2
Athanasios Petrakos	14,835	3.93	2				2
Lambros Bouklis	7,212	1.91	1				1
Panagiotis Katsaris	6,443	1.71	–				–
Georgios Tsogas	5,920	1.57	–				–
Theodoros Sabaziotis	5,468	1.45	–				–

South Aegean

Candidate	1st round	%	Seats
	86,735	50.9	31
Charalambos Kokkinos	52,973	31.08	13
Efthalia Kafantari	15,401	9.04	4
Nikolaos Syrmalenios	8,751	5.14	2
Nikolaos Chrysogelos	6,558	3.85	1

Thessaly

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	170,323	38.59	10	174,134	50.56	21	31
Apostolos Papatolias	153,821	34.85	9	170,273	49.44	4	13
Evangelos Boutas	57,831	13.1	3
Asterios Rondoulis	19,592	4.44	1
Konstantinos Poulakis	13,571	3.08	1
Dimitrios Kouretas	12,015	2.72	1
Theofanis Genikomsiou	7,444	1.69	1
Athanasios Zacharopoulos	6,720	1.52	–

West Greece

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	169,002	43.32	11	142,891	56.63	20	31
Georgios Papanastasiou	104,148	26.7	7	109,418	43.37	5	12
Nikolaos Karathanasopoulos	43,455	11.14	3				3
Konstantinos Papakonstantinou	15,969	4.09	1				1
Nikolaos Tsoukalis	15,077	3.86	1				1
Vasilis Chatzilambrou	14,415	3.7	1				1
Alexandros Chrysanthakopoulos	11.842	3.04	1				1
Dimitrios Desyllas	8,892	2.28	1				1
Christos Rigas	7,318	1.88	–				–

West Macedonia

Candidate	1st Round	%	Seats	2nd Round	%	Seats	Total seats
	89,273	46.3	12	79,216	51.81	19	31
Ioannis Papaiordanidis	74,050	38.4	10	73,675	48.19	6	16
Antonios Tsakonas	15,851	8.22	2				2
Antonis Kyrinas	6,283	3.26	1				1
Pavlos Altinis	4,619	2.4	1				1
Spyridon Konstantinidis	2,755	1.43	–				–

National summary

Councils and Councillors of the regions

Party		Councils				Councillors
Party		Gain	Loss	Change	Total	Gain	Loss	Change	Total
	7	n/a	n/a	7	342	n/a	n/a	342
	3	n/a	n/a	3	180	n/a	n/a	180
	New Democracy/ Popular Orthodox Rally	2	n/a	n/a	2	80	n/a	n/a	80
	Panhellenic Socialist Movement/ Popular Orthodox Rally	1	n/a	n/a	1	31	n/a	n/a	31
	0	n/a	n/a	0	42	n/a	n/a	42
	0	n/a	n/a	0	15	n/a	n/a	15
	0	n/a	n/a	0	10	n/a	n/a	10
	0	n/a	n/a	0	9	n/a	n/a	9
	Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow	0	n/a	n/a	0	7	n/a	n/a	7
	0	n/a	n/a	0	5	n/a	n/a	5
	Coalition of Radical Left Ecologist Greens	0	n/a	n/a	0	2	n/a	n/a	2
	Ecologist Greens/ Democratic Left	0	n/a	n/a	0	2	n/a	n/a	2
Summary					13				725

Nationwide percentage results

	Nationwide results	Change from the 2009 parliamentary elections
34.7	align="right"	-9.3
32.8	align="right"	-0.7
10.9	+3.4
5.0	+0.4
4.0	align="right"	-1.6
2.8	+0.3
2.2	+2.2
Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow	1.8	+1.4
All others	5.9

Reaction

The government saw its share of vote drop by 9% but it remained the largest party. Prime Minister Papandreou said that he would continue with tough austerity measures to alleviate Greece's debt burden following a narrow victory in the election.^[4]

Notes and References

"Making sense of the ballot ", Athens News, 5 November 2010, p. 8.
News: Greek police defuse another bomb. www.aljazeera.com.
News: Greece votes in local polls. www.aljazeera.com.
News: George Papandreou risks sparking class war over austerity cuts. December 19, 2010. the Guardian.