Galery

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What is your assessment of the battle for Attica? For the candidate of which party would the voters, who preferred the independent candidate Yannis Dimaras in the first round, vote?  

Again, I will answer based on the last Sunday results. 50 of every 100 voters who voted for Yannis Dimaras  are voters of PASOK, 25 are of New Democracy and the remaining 25 belong to all other parties. We are talking about 16 percent of the votes. I think what will determine largely the end result is how many of these voters will go to vote on Sunday.

How do you think things will develop in the Peloponnese region?

The first round differences of the candidates in the Peloponnese region and in the region of Eastern Macedonia - Thrace were insignificant. Therefore, no assessment could be made. As I already mentioned, the important thing for the second round is the participation in the elections. Whether those who voted in the first round will vote in the second round again, and whether those who didn’t vote last Sunday will do it this Sunday. This could significantly change the election result.

In recent days, the independent candidate for mayor of Piraeus and former member of New Democracy Petros Mandouvalos supported the party chosen candidacy of Vassilis Mihalolyakos although their relations were very bad until recently. How could this affect the election results there?

Undoubtedly, this choice of Petros Manduvalos will play an important role. Not because the electorate is so much influenced by the choice of the leaders of electoral lists. I think this phenomenon has long disappeared. But in this case, the majority of Pireas citizens who voted for Petros Manduvalos in the first round are politically affiliated with New Democracy, whose candidate is Vassilis Mihalolyakos. Therefore, the position of the leader supports the movement of voters in this direction.   

But I want to emphasize again that the time has passed when the position of the electoral list leader was likely to shift the electorate to another candidate. Such statements play their role but they can not predetermine the outcome.

How do you see the next day after the election?
 
Elections are important because regional governors to be elected will have to put into practice a new institution in a difficult moment for the country. This is important in itself because the local government program Kalikratis, within which were formed new areas and regional governors are elected directly by the people, is indeed a reform. Regional governors will play an important role in resource allocation and regional development, so it matters who will be elected and how they will handle tasks in their respective fields.

But the overall picture remains the most important issue. Greece is experiencing a very difficult period. We all feel it every day. The period is full of uncertainty, unstableness and little stability. Therefore, it is very important to find a way that could bring us a little more optimism or at least less pessimism and more hope that we will overcome today's difficult situation and that we will not be faced with what frightens us all. There is the big bet. It concerns the residents of the country as well as the participants in the political life. It concerns, however, the government we chose to solve the problems of the country the most.

I do not take anything for certain and do not rule anything out. I do not think anyone could foresee the developments in the political life in general, not only for the coming months, but years. Consequently, whatever is the development and our choice, we should try to do it calmly and wisely, not to cross the line. Because its loss would be the biggest mistake in an era of huge problems anyway.