2014 Greek local elections explained

Election Name:	2014 Greek local elections
Country:	Greece
Type:	local
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2010 Greek local elections
Previous Year:	2010
Next Election:	2019 Greek local elections
Next Year:	2019
Election Date:	18 & 25 May 2014
Map Size:	350px

Local elections were held in Greece on 18 May 2014 (first round) and 25 May 2014 (second round).^[1] ^[2] Voters elected representatives to the country's 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.^[3]

Issues

Greece is still facing a long-term government-debt crisis, which may affect the elections.

Election results

Source: Hellenic Ministry of the Interior

In the municipalities, as well as the regions, any candidate can participate in the first round. If the leading candidate does not have an absolute majority (50%+) of the votes, then a second round is held between the two leading candidates in the first round.

Regions

Attica

Contender Rena Dourou (SYRIZA) defeated incumbent Ioannis Sgouros (Society of Values) in the second round and succeeded him as Regional Governor of Attica.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		386,833	23.80	12	794,231	50.82	49	61
		359,302	22.11	11	768,604	49.18	1	12
		228,913	14.08	7				7
		180,908	11.13	6				6
		173,325	10.66	5				5
		116,464	7.17	4				4
	Recreate Greece – Drasi	48,242	2.97	2				2
		36,449	2.24	1				1
		33,895	2.09	1				1
		32,475	2.00	1				1
	DIMAR – Greens – Europe-Ecology	28,601	1.76	1				1

Central Greece

Kostas Bakoyannis (ND) defeated Evangelos Apostolou (SYRIZA) in the second round and succeeded Klearchos Pergantas (PASOK) as Regional Governor of Central Greece.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		136,688	41.35	11	161,286	56.06	20	31
		61,961	18.75	5	126,428	43.94	5	10
		47,609	14.40	4				4
		29,867	9.04	2				2
		29,191	8.83	2				2
		14,115	4.27	1				1
		11,093	3.36	1				1

Central Macedonia

Incumbent Apostolos Tzitzikostas (ANEL/EPAL/LAOS) defeated contender Giannis Ioannidis (ND) in the second round and remained Regional Governor of Central Macedonia.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		322,829	32.81		562.964	71.01		43
		182,912	18.59		229,838	28.99		11
		115,484	11.74	4				4
		85,960	8.74	3				3
		84,089	8.55	3				3
		78,330	7.96	3				3
	Elia – Drasi –	58,059	5.90	2				2
		30,419	3.09	1				1
		25,842	2.63	1				1

Crete

Incumbent Stavros Arnaoutakis (Drasi) defeated contender Serafim Tsokas (ND) in the second round and remained Regional Governor of Crete.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		143,461	41.13		184,154	64.01		31
		91,411	26.21		103,547	35.99		11
		65,000	18.64	5				5
		19,912	5.71	1				1
		11,585	3.32	1				1
		9,234	2.65	1				1
		8,198	2.35	1				1

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

Giorgos Pavlidis (ND), the former prefect of Xanthi, defeated incumbent Aris Giannakidis (ind.) in the second round and succeeded him as Regional Governor of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		122,086	34.73		168,852	56.34		31
	–	96,959	27.58		130,845	43.66		10
Konstantinos Morfidis		40,105	11.41	3				3
		28,728	8.17	2				2
Christos Kitsopoulos		20,942	5.96	2				2
Christos Trellis		18,859	5.36	1				1
Vasileos Traiforos		10,158	2.89	1				1
Katerina Gerostergiou		8,322	2.37	1				1
Giorgos Botsidis		5,387	1.53	0				0

Epirus

Incumbent Alexandros Kachrimanis (ND) defeated contender Olga Gerovasili (SYRIZA) in the first round and remained Regional Governor of Epirus.

Votes	%	Seats
110,746	50.83	31
53,543	24.58	10
21,037	9.66	4
17,549	8.05	3
8,591	3.94	2
6,400	2.94	1

Ionian Islands

Contender Theodoros Galiatsatos (SYRIZA), defeated incumbent (ND) in the second round and succeeded him as Regional Governor of the Ionian Islands.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
					63,506	59.93		24
		26,147	21.76		42,469	40.07		5
		17,419	14.49	3				3
		14,428	12.01	3				3
		13,750	11.44	2				2
	–	6,216	5.17	1				1
		6,192	5.15	1				1
	–	5,483	4.56	1				1
		3,192	2.66	1				1
		2,661	2.21	0				0

North Aegean

Contender Christiana Kalogirou (ND) defeated incumbent (ind.) in the second round and succeeded him as Regional Governor of the North Aegean.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		33,410	31.51		46,357	53.01		25
	–	27,446	25.88		41,095	46.99		6
		20,538	19.37	4				4
		15,565	14.68	3				3
		3,673	3.46	1				1
		2,878	2.71	1				1
		2,525	2.38	1				1

Peloponnese

Incumbent Petros Tatoulis (ND) defeated contender Odysseas Voudouris (SYRIZA) in the second round and remained Regional Governor of Peloponnese.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		157,672	43.17		182.456	59.35		31
		57,417	15.72		124.953	40.65		9
	DIMAR –	56,181	15.38	4				4
		32,894	9.01	2				2
		23,696	6.49	2				2
		18,797	5.15	1				1
		10,653	2.92	1				1
		7,946	2.18	1				1

South Aegean

Contender Giorgos Hatzimarkos (ND) defeated incumbent (ind.) in the second round and succeeded him as Regional Governor of the South Aegean.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		61,168	35.71		83,317	56.86		31
	–	55,269	32.27		63,216	43.14		11
		31,483	18.38	5				5
		13,561	7.92	2				2
		9,813	5.73	2				2

Thessaly

Incumbent Konstantinos Agorastos (ND) defeated contender Nikos Tsilimingas (DIMAR) in the second round and remained Regional Governor of Thessaly.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
		189,591	42.90		208,170	54.50		31
		76,434	17.30		173,814	45.50		9
		58,762	13.30	3				3
		46,075	10.43	3				3
		30,552	6.91	2				2
		20,456	4.63	1				1
		10,166	2.30	1				1
		9,870	2.23	1				1

Western Greece

Incumbent Apostolos Katsifaras (ind.) defeated contender Andreas Katsaniotis (Nea Dimokratia) in the second round and remained Regional Governor of Western Greece.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	–	92,462	23.06		153,028	50.50		31
		79,610	19.85		149,984	49.50		5
		67,406	16.81	4				4
		50,862	12.68	3				3
		35,284	8.80	2				2
		31,338	7.82	2				2
	–	13,069	3.26	1				1
		11,794	2.94	1				1
		10,957	2.73	1				1
		8,187	2.04	1				1

Western Macedonia

Contender Theodoros Karypidis (ind.), defeated incumbent (ND) in the second round and succeeded him as Regional Governor of Western Macedonia.

Candidate	Supporting Parties	1st Round			2nd Round			Total seats
Candidate	Supporting Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	–				101,566	59.01		25
		67,859	35.61		70,545	40.99		9
		21,054	11.05	2				2
		20,573	10.80	2				2
		13,134	6.89	2				2
		8,982	4.71	1				1
		3,443	1.81	0				0

Major municipalities

Athens

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round	%	2nd Round	%	Total seats
	Olive Tree- Democratic Left– - Greens- Europe-Ecology	46,976	21.06	110,987	51.42	29
		44,620	20.00	104,876	48.58	5
		37,746	16.92			4
		35,949	16.12			4
		16,529	7.41			2
Nikitas Kaklamanis	EPAL	15,834	7.10			2
		7,937	3.56			1
	Independent-Panathinaikos Movement	6,489	2.91			1
		4,398	1.97			1
		3,024	1.36			0
		2,097	0.94			0
		1,474	0.66			0

Thessaloniki

Candidate	Supporting Party	1st Round^[4]	%	2nd Round	%	Total seats
	Olive Tree - Drassi - Europe-Ecology	47,628	36.04	70,126	58.11	29
		34,564	26.16	50,542	41.89	10
		13,968	10.57			3
		10,195	7.71			2
		8,233	6.23			2
Makis Stergiou		4,168	3.15			1
		4,131	3.13			1
George Rakkas		2,869	2.17			1
Giannis Koutras		2,804	2.12			0
Giannis Kouriannidis		1,918	1.45			0
Dimitris Papamichael		1,672	1.27			0

Nationwide percentage results

Party		Nationwide results
	26.3
	17.7
(Olive Tree)	16.2
	8.8
	8.1
	3.8
	3.2
	ANTARSYA	2.3
	2.1
	All others	11.1

^[5]

Reaction

The elections were regarded as a victory for SYRIZA,^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] which was not expected to perform well due to its weak local organization.^[10] Candidates backed by the ruling New Democracy fared poorly, particularly Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' hand-picked candidates. In Athens, New Democracy failed to make the runoff for the first time since 1975.

In response the results, PM Samaras said "Greece must show it has the stability that it deserves" in the second round and European election scheduled to take place next week. Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said it was a "historic day", and that next Sunday would be "the first day of a new era."

Notes and References

Web site: Δημοτικές εκλογές – Ευρωεκλογές 2014: πότε ξεκινάει ο 1ος γύρος. nikosk. 29 July 2013. fimes.gr. 5 April 2018.
Web site: Στις 18 και 25 Μαΐου 2014 οι δημοτικές εκλογές - Aftodioikisi.gr. aftodioikisi.gr. 27 July 2013. aftodioikisi.gr. 5 April 2018.
"Making sense of the ballot ", Athens News, 5 November 2010, p. 8.
Web site: ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ . ΤΑΝΙΑ . Δεύτερη θητεία για τον Γ. Μπουτάρη . Kathimerini . Kathimerini . 26 February 2019.
Web site: Public Issue: Στο 26,3% η εκλογική επιρροή της Ν.Δ. euro2day.gr. 5 April 2018.
Web site: Voters back anti-bailout parties in Greece's local elections (in English). The Guardian. 18 May 2014. 19 May 2014.
Web site: Greece's leftist Syriza party fares well in key local races (in English). Reuters. 18 May 2014. 19 May 2014.
Web site: Greeks tempted to 'experiment' with Syriza, local election shows (in English). EurActiv. 19 May 2014. 19 May 2014.
Web site: Leftist Syriza Candidates Gain on Incumbents in Greek Local Elections (in English). The Washington Post. 18 May 2014. 19 May 2014.
Web site: Local elections in Greece a precursor of European vote (in English). MacroPolis. 18 May 2014. 19 May 2014.