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The candidate of the radical left SYRIZA party was able to win in the largest area of Greece, both in terms of population and political terms, albeit with a slight lead.

A significant fact relating to last night’s thriller, the result of which became clear well after midnight, is that, after counting 76% of the protocols of the polling stations, Rena Dourou received 50.76% compared to 49.24% in favour of former governor Yiannis Sgouros, the margin between the two being about 18,000 votes.

The battle between the two candidates was very controversial and the initial estimates at the majority of the polling stations showed a strong lead in favour of the SYRIZA nomination, which was confirmed in the course of counting. However, Sgouros ranked first many times and then fell to the second position, due to which the final winner remained unknown until late at night. In particular, the SYRIZA candidate took the lead at about 10:00 pm with about 1,000 votes, a marginal difference in a region with 2.8 million registered voters. A little later, Yiannis Sgouros again took the lead with 50.10% compared to 49.90% for Rena Dourou by a margin of 600 votes. At 11:30 pm Rena Dourou ranked first with a lead of 400 votes. Shortly after midnight, when about 30% of the protocols were counted, Dourou’s lead was limited to only 80 votes. Then subsequently, the difference between the two began to steadily grow, eventually reaching 9,000 votes.

Alexis Tsipras’ visit

At 2:00 am it became ultimately clear that Rena Dourou was the winner, and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and party candidate for mayor of Athens Gabriel Sakellaridis arrived at her campaign headquarters to congratulate her.

In a speech to party supporters who had gathered at the central election headquarters outside the main entrance of Athens University, after expressing gratitude to her entire team, the newly elected governor stressed, "We had an important battle and we fought with enthusiasm and morality that the majority of our fellow citizens understood and appreciated."

Rena Dourou also noted, "We will work with that morality in the coming years to ensure that there will be no first and second-hand mayors. We will govern the most densely populated area in the country in this way," concluding, "The battle of Attica was won tonight, which turns a new page".

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras took the floor immediately afterwards to congratulate Rena Dourou for "her historic victory in Attica," also congratulating Gabriel Sakellaridis for his battle for the mayor's office in Athens.

Yiannis Sgouros’ congratulations

At the opposite pole, leaving governor Yiannis Sgouros, obviously disappointed, said, "We had a difficult battle alone. We thank our fellow citizens who supported us in an extreme political atmosphere in which slander and political aggression went beyond all bounds."

He stressed that "this battle was not won in a firm manner" but congratulated the SYRIZA candidate on her success and wished the Attica region and its residents all the best. The already former governor said he would be available to protect what he had created over the past years.