If the government’s concern over the first round of local elections was that “election fatigue” might have set in after the national elections in June, it appears that in the second round the ruling party fell victim to “ND fatigue”. While Nea Dimokratia dominated the first round of the Regional elections, with ND-supported candidates winning the Governorship of 6 Regions (7 if one includes Stavros Arnautakis in Crete), it was unable to improve greatly on this performance in the second round, despite having several candidates in a leading position.
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Local election results a vote for the status quo
Before last Sunday’s local and regional elections, commentators’ attention was focused on whether the ruling party Nea Dimokratia would be able to maintain the substantial majority which it had achieved in the national elections, or whether “election fatigue” might contribute to a reduced turnout, to ND’s disadvantage. The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated his ambition to “turn the country blue” and achieve a dominance of ND-supported candidates in all 13 Regions and the three major municipalities of Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras. At the same time the opposition parties were hoping either to consolidate gains made or to recoup losses incurred in the national elections.
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