New Democracy appears to be winning 7 of Greece's 13 regions in Sunday's local gov't elections
A candidate regional governor or mayor needs 43% to win the seat outright without going to the second round of elections, on October 15.
In four of Greece's regions the final result will be decided in the second round of elections, according to voting systems operator SingularLogic Director General Dimitris Bakakos.
Attica Region & Nikos Chardalias
So far, New Democracy's Nikos Chardalias has received 46.26% of the votes in Attica region, followed by independent candidate (but supported by SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance) Giorgos Ioakimidis with 15.96%. The Communist Party of Greece's Ioannis Protoulis received 14.06%, followed by PASOK-KINAL's Giannis Sgouros with 13.12%.
In a statement to reporters, Chardalias said that he is taking on "a huge responsibility," and promises to do everything in his power to honor the people's mandate.
"Today we start the fight for a better, safer Attica," he noted and invited his fellow candidates to cooperate.
"We want active citizens by our side," Chardalias pointed out.
In the Eastern Macedonia & Thrace region, the current regional governor Christos Metios (supported by New Democracy) is ahead with 41.78%, followed by independent candidate Christodoulos Topsidis with 34.77%.
In the North Aegean region, New Democracy 's Alkiviadis Stefanis leads the polls with 40.25%, followed by Konstantinos Moutzouris with 33.74% who is running in the regional ballot with an independent coalition but he is too supported by New Democracy.
In the region of Western Greece, the current regional governor Nektarios Farmakis, supported by New Democracy, seems to retain his post with a 59.77%, followed by PASOK-KINAL's Spiridon Skiadaresis with 12.72%.
In Western Macedonia, current New Democracy regional governor Giorgos Kasapidis is ahead with 35.74%, followed by independent candidate Giorgos Amanatidis with 35.54%.
In the region of Epirus, current New Democracy regional governor Alexandros Karchimanis is leading the ballot count with 55.29%, followed by SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance's Ioannis Stefos with 12.20%.
Regarding the region of Thessaly, current regional governor Konstantinos Agorastos is ahead with 41.58% of the votes, followed by independent candidate Dimitrios Kouretas (support by both SYRIZA & PASOK) with 34.28%.
In the region of the Ionian Islands, Ioannis Trepeklis is leading the votes with the New Democracy-supported independent coalion 'IONIAN ERA' with 30.19%, with Rodi-Kratsa Tsagaropoulou in second position with 28.59%, who is also supported by New Democracy.
In Central Macedonia region, Apostolos Tzitzikostas is at the top with 60.57%, followed by PASOK-KINAL's Christos Papageorgiou with 10.42%.
In the region of Crete, PASOK-KINAL's Spiros Arnaoutakis is leading the votes with 77.79%, followed by SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance's Spiridon Danellis with 11.40%.
Current regional governor with New Democracy in the South Aegean region Georgios Chatzimarkou received 66.19% of the votes, followed by PASOK-KINAL's Nikiforos Papanikolas with 15.01%.
In the region of Peloponnese, New Democracy's Dimitrios Ptochos is at the top with 42.62%, while in the region of Central Greece current regional governor Fanis Spanos leads with 48.62%, with SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance-supported Apostolos Gletsos at 25.07%.
PM Mitsotakis: Voters 'reconfirmed their confidence in New Democracy'
Greek voters "reconfirmed their confidence in New Democracy and the choices it made," Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday night, as over a third of the votes were counted nationally for regional governors and mayors.
Speaking from the party's headquarters, he said that "at least 7 regions have won for New Democracy in the first round." He highlighted in particular the lead of former minister Nikos Hardalias, who is newly elected in Attica, and that of Apostolos Tzitzikostas in Central Macedonia, who was re-elected, and the very high percentages governors supported by ND received in Western Greece and Epirus.
"I also want to point out that it appears the opposition will win in the second round only in one region, and that I believe leads us to specific political conclusions. (...) The government obviously will continue as of tomorrow its work, the implementation of great changes and reforms Greece needs, and, of course, as of next week we shall continue to fight the battle of the second round in the races which were not won this Sunday," Mitsotakis added, referring to both main opposition SYRIZA and to opposition PASOK.
