The battle for Athens

13 February 2014 / 19:02:50 GRReporter

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Anastasia Balezdrova

2014 will be a year of double elections for Greece but, according to some commentators, it might be of triple elections since, along with the European elections, it will hold elections for local authorities which will provide the parties with the opportunity of competing at the polling stations rather than in parliament or in street protests.

Traditionally, the two largest municipalities, namely Athens and Thessaloniki, are representative of the power and influence of the political parties and the battle for them is fierce. However, nothing is the same three and a half years after the last municipal elections when candidates supported by different parties had won the mayoral seats in the capital and the second largest city in Greece.

It seems that the current mayor of Athens, George Kaminis, will be the main favourite to win a second term in the government of the Greek capital. Over the years, he and his team have been able to "shrink" the municipal budget and to allocate the majority of the funds to the needs of disadvantaged people. The fact is that a few days ago the international credit rating agency Moody's upgraded the rating of Athens after the financial authorities were able to fully pay interest rates to the amount of 675,000 euro, which were the last instalment for the full payment of a loan received from the Agricultural Bank in 2003.

Kaminis’ candidacy will again be supported by parties with different ideology. Democratic Left and the liberal Drassi party have already announced their support for him in the elections. It is expected that the smaller partner in the coalition government, PASOK, will support him too.

Despite the objectively low chances of attracting the majority of the votes of the residents of Athens, New Democracy is going to nominate its candidate. The person is not yet clear, as just before the official announcement of the nomination of former Minister of Tourism Aris Spiliotopoulos former Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis has hurriedly filed his application as well.

The consequences for the party of the participation of two of its representatives in the elections are not yet clear either, although the possibility of disaffiliating "partisan" Kaklamanis has not been discussed so far. If he does not withdraw, the probability of New Democracy becoming the third political force in the Athens municipality is considerable.

SYRIZA greatly relies on the outcome of the municipal elections. Party officials say that if the party becomes the first political force, through the local and European elections, the government will be forced to call early elections. The candidate for mayor of Athens of the radical left party is economist Gabriel Sakellaridis, aged 34. Unknown to the public, he entered politics just as today’s SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras did, by running for the position of mayor of the capital eight years ago.

He was born in 1980 and graduated from the Economic University of Athens. After that, he went to New York to acquire a master’s degree and is currently a doctoral student in economics at Athens University. During the general election campaign in 2012, Sakellaridis was the main representative of SYRIZA in the foreign media.

Despite the serious damage caused to the publicity of the party, Golden Dawn has also announced its nomination for mayor of Athens. He is none other than Ilias Kasidiaris who has become the man for all posts after party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and his deputy Christos Papas have been sent behind bars.

Independent Greeks party will be represented in the elections by lawyer Vassilis Kapernaros, who is also a deputy, and who is particularly popular in Greece. According to a party message, leader Panos Kamenos had proposed the nomination that was unanimously adopted by the members of the parliamentary group. It is worth noting that last month, the parliament approved the removal of Kapernaros’ parliamentary immunity at the request of the office combating financial crime. According to publications in the Greek media, he is one of three deputies investigated by the authorities for financial control in conjunction with the transfer of large sums of money to foreign banks.

In a short Twitter message, the Liberal Alliance has announced that its leader Grigoris Valianatos will be a candidate for mayor of Athens. The news has sparked different reactions among social network users in view of the fact that, during the past elections, the party had supported George Kaminis. Some of them have even stated that his candidacy is dividing the voters who sympathize with the liberally orientated centrist parties.