5+1 minefields on the way to the polls

Following of his visits to Agrinio, Arta and also to Corfu, i.e. in areas where the ND was pushed in the last national elections, Kyriakos Mitsotakis seems to save the “difficult” for last.

These are areas that, for different reasons, seem like… minefields for the ND’s electoral goals on June 9.

He insists in every public appearance that he talks about the importance of the Eurocalp as well as the challenges of the next European cycle, exorcising the indifference and fatigue of the voters. “From the opposition we hear nothing about Europe and the bets for the next day” he said from Corfu (where the ND “wrote” 36.74% last June).

And focusing on SYRIZA, he spoke of a “repetition of a pre-election project and a political rhetoric which has hurt the country (…) this time in a more lifestyle wrapper” and “charged” Koumoundourou with “toxicity and lies” and “laying out tens of billions for the dealing with complex problems”.

The Prime Minister is essentially continuing the campaign to re-approach the audience that gave his party victory in the last national polls, with an eye both on the traditional New Democrats and a centrist alliance.

“What is it that brought us to 41%? It’s the ability to bring together voters who are traditional right-wing voters, who care a lot about the most patriotic issues, with more progressive, centrist groups of citizens.

But the glue that brought these voters together was the good performance of the economy,” he said in a full-length interview on the British podcast “Leading” (Alastair Campbell, Rory Stewart).

And in this way he brought the term of triangulation back to the fore.

“We managed,” he said, “to implement a new type of ‘triangle.’ First, we are fiscally prudent, but definitely pro-growth, not austerity (…) Second, we are very responsible patriots (…) Third, socially liberal when it comes to issues such as same-sex marriage, which has been a difficult issue in GREECE”.

The Region of Achaia and especially Patras is on the schedule for the next 24 hours first for Mitsotakis the day after tomorrow, then for Androulakis on Friday and then for Kasselakis.

The five municipalities of Achaia are now of special importance both for the prestige of the Center-Left and for the impressions of the Center-Right. Where SYRIZA swept in 2019, ND dominated in 2023, but not easily.

The Region was painted blue with a percentage of 34.04% (in Patras the ND moved to 32.11%) while PASOK won one municipality, Erymanthou.

The blue campaign in the region is led by Lefteris Avgenakis, who was there a few days ago speaking at the conference of the Union of Regions of Greece, which for the first time had a theme dedicated to the primary sector.

Apart from the Agricultural issue, among the issues that are troubling is the effect of the legalization of civil marriage for same-sex couples – a topic on which the Metropolitan of Patras, Chrysostomos, has… shone.

Unexpectedly, next Thursday Mitsotakis will find himself in one of the “centrist” electoral districts, Ilia, where both SYRIZA and PASOK maintain strength. ND managed to win all seven municipalities last year, increasing its percentages compared to 2019, when it had lost Pyrgos and Ilida.

However, in the 2023 elections, the center-right faction moved below its nationwide percentage, at 37.45% specifically (and in Pyrgos even lower, at 36.21%, where Koumoundourou got 22.06%), with SYRIZA and PASOK in high percentages – at 20.13% and 19.74% respectively.

The ND holds high the “flag” of the Pyrgos – Patras road, a project that is scheduled to be completed in 2025 and was a long-standing request of the residents of the area, among other things, to stimulate the “development dynamics” of Ilia.

In the program of the last week before the match there is, besides Thessaloniki, another northern Helladic city of Central Macedonia with importance for the goals of the ND.

Mitsotakis is expected to be in Kilkis, where the dynamics of PASOK was reflected in the last national polls, which came in second place, below ND’s 39.18%. The center-right faction lost strength from May to June 2023, while among the strengthened ones was the party of Dimitris Natsios, as Niki came in fourth place above the KKE.

Although Kilkis was one of the destinations of Mitsotakis in the pre-election period for the national ballot last June, he chooses to return there with prescribed references to the “patriotism of responsibility” towards, according to the Prime Minister, “patriots of fresh water”. as he mentions in his attacks on the smaller parties from the right of the ND.

Overall, Central Macedonia, but in particular the six municipalities of First Thessaloniki, are very high in the priorities of the ND.

There, the center-right faction had moved last June in percentages far… far from the zone of its nationwide performance – at 35.28%, specifically – and the effort to relieve the pressure will be given to the end in view of the Euro election, with a regular blue presence in the Thessaloniki neighborhoods – of Nikos Dendias who has been “in charge” of Central Macedonia, but also of deputy ministers and party officials. Some 24 hours before the match, Mitsotakis will be in the city for a central event (before the final gathering, probably in Syntagma Square).

The west of the city is constantly on the blue “radar” as districts in which there is a more conservative audience but also an enhanced presence of the parties on the far right of the ND – primarily the Hellenic Solution and Niki. And there, as in other parts of the electoral map, the center-right faction invests in the implementation of everyday projects with a developmental footprint.

At the end of the week, a blue landing in Crete is planned, as in addition to Mitsotakis’ two-day tour with “weapon” infrastructure projects (BOAK, airport in Kastelli, etc.), he has decided to do the cross-channel interview in Chania. From there and next Sunday, ministers will travel there, among them Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who is already “running” as the person in charge of the campaign.

Crete is the biggest field of conflict between SYRIZA and PASOK, while the ND expects the Regions not to change hands, but to keep the image of last June unchanged: blue in all prefectures. He knows, however, that Harilaou Trikoupi, who won second place everywhere, losing only Chania to SYRIZA, is fighting for at least one first place.

The biggest blue pressures were detected last year in Heraklion and Rethymnon (with electoral percentages of 35.16% and 36.67% respectively), while Lasithi is also on the radar, where PASOK rose by 4.1% in the one month that separated the two national elections.

Perhaps the most “difficult” for the SW Region, the one that worries the staffs in Maximos and Piraeus the most about the prospect of sending a “message” of discomfort to the government, is Thessaly. Mitsotakis intends to be in Larissa in the last week before the elections.

In this particular prefecture, however, there were difficulties anyway in the last national polls, even though the ND achieved high percentages in Thessaly, surpassing in some places its national result – with 43.09% in Karditsa, for example.

The destruction of Kampos by the catastrophic floods has worsened the situation, while the whole of Thessaly is constantly in the “frame”, and Koumundourou and Charilaou Trikoupi.

The opposition believes that on June 9, the citizens’ disappointment will be expressed in a Region which was “lost” to the ND in the regional elections of last October, when SYRIZA and PASOK elected Dimitris Kouretas as regional governor. A few days ago, a group led by Kostis Hatzidakis was found in Trikala and also in Magnesia.