The supremacy of the center-right faction in the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece was universal and the candidate of the ND Lazaros Kyrizoglou is the big winner of today’s elections and the next president of KEDE.
The participation of the electors in the elections for the nomination of the new Board of Directors of KEDE, as well as the new Supervisory Board for the new municipal period 2024-2028, was very large.
In total, 529 elected officials voted out of the 535 who had the right to vote, with the participation rate reaching a very high 98.87%.
529 voted and valid ballots were 525. The combinations received:
- Lazaros Kyrizoglou “Modern Strong Municipalities” (ND) – Received 348 votes, 66.2% and 20 seats
- Haris Doukas “Self-government NOW” (PASOK – SYRIZA) – Received 155 votes, 29.5% and 10 seats
- Kostas Peletidis “Popular Mobilization” (KKE) – Received 18 votes, 3.5% and 1 seat
- L. Stefanakis “Coordination of Voters” (extra-parliamentary Left) Received 4 votes and 0 seats
- Void – Blank 4 ballots
In the Board of Directors the mayor of Ioannina
The Mayor of Ioannina, Thomas Begas, was elected to the new Board of Directors of KEDE, with the combination of the Center-Left, and indeed second behind Simos Danielidis, on the contrary, Yiannis Lolos is first runner-up among the municipal councilors of the Kyrizoglou combination and is not elected, just as he is also not elected and the Mayor N. Skoufa Kostas Papasiozos who came last in crosses.
Specifically:
In the new administrative board of the Union, the faction of Lazaros Kyrizoglou will have the following Mayors as members based on the votes they received:
Lazaros Kyrizoglou, Mayor of Menemeni Vineyards
Grigoris Constantellos, Mayor of Vari Voula Vouliagmeni
George Papanastasiou Mayor of Agrini
Raviolos Eleftherios, Mayor of Karystos
Vassilis Tsiakos, Mayor of Karditsa
Theodoros Ambatzoglou, Mayor of Amarousi
Ilias Apostolopoulos, Mayor of Papagou – Cholargou
Filippos Anastasiadis, Mayor of Pangaiou
Alexios Kastrinos, Mayor of Pinio
Efstathios Koulis, Mayor of Gortynia
Pantelis Tsakiris, Mayor of Oreokastro
Thanasis Mamakos, Mayor of Nea Ionia
The municipal councilors from Lazaros Kyrizoglou’s faction who were appointed to the new KEDE Board of Directors:
Dimitris Kafantaris
Christos Tedomas
Vangelis Barmakos
Michael Karamalakis
Dimitris Tziachristas
Ioannis Mouratoglou
George Katavoutas
Meropi Hydraiou
The faction of Haris Doukas, “Self-Government Now” elected the following 5 Mayors:
Simos Danielidis, Mayor of Neapolis Sykeon
Thomas Begas, Mayor of Ioannito
Antonis Goundaras, Mayor of Agia
Grigoris Alexopoulos, Mayor of Western Achaia
Tina Kafatsaki, Mayor of Zografou
Let us remind you that the respective Mayor of Athens has an independent position on the Board of Directors of KEDE.
And municipal councilors:
Dimitris Tsiandis
Nikos Gialitakis
Dimitris Birbas
Kostas Zachariadis
The faction, Laiki Sispirosis occupied a seat on the new Board of Directors of KEDE, with the election of the Mayor of Patreon, Kostas Peletidis.
Statement Kyrizoglou
On the occasion of the results of the elections, the head of the self-governing faction “Modern Strong Municipalities”, Mayor of Ampelokipi Menemeni and again candidate for President of K.E.D.E. Lazaros Kyrizoglou, made the following statement: “I want to thank all of my fellow self-governing members who initially responded to our call and came en masse, participating today in the electoral process. The unprecedented participation proves the determination of the elected staff of the Local Government to fight together, to take our Municipalities and local communities even higher.
Unity won today. The Local Government won.
United We Began. United We Planned. United We Continue.
With knowledge, plan and experience, with a new strong team of Mayors and Municipal Councilors, we move forward.
To implement the Great Reform in Self-Government. Making it a priority to always be next to the citizens”.
Convocation of the new Board of Directors for the election of the president, the two vice-presidents, the general secretary as well as for the other members of the Executive Committee will take place on Monday, March 4 at 19:00 at the KEDE offices.
The process and the speeches
The common theme of the speakers – representatives of the factions was the criticality of today’s vote as “it will determine the next 5-year course of the Administration for an independent and sustainable Self-Government with resources, adequate staffing, rights, autonomy and claims for the benefit of the citizens even of the small municipalities of the whole country”
Regarding this issue, the Minister of Digital Governance and former president of KEDE, Dimitris Papastergiou, in his welcome speech, applauded the “restoration of the injustice” at the expense of small island and mountain municipalities achieved with the rational distribution of CAPs, stressing, “Greece is not only the urban centers. Now we see the municipalities with confidence for the future thanks to the programs that are running for smart cities with around 500 million euros from the European programs and we are going to create the municipalities of the next day, municipalities that are safe and humane for the citizens…” .
Earlier the minister referred to the achievements of the Local Government during his presidency of the KEDE both during the pandemic period with the activation of all municipalities and their social services, as well as to the issue of governability which they were asked to deal with with the law of simple proportionality.
The current president, L. Kyrizoglou, thanked his fellow citizens for the “supra-party”, continuous for the 6th time, his promotion to the city hall and asked for the “unifying support and trust” of the Electoral Body in order to continue the creative and militant course of the Board of Directors Union. He referred more extensively to the successful claims of the First Class Local Government during the previous period, emphasizing that more than 500 legislative regulations were promoted in ministerial decisions, presidential decrees and laws in order to include them in the new self-government code.
In closing, he reiterated the 5 axes of his faction’s claim concerning the autonomy of the municipalities, and hiring of permanent staff through ASEP, financially strong and independent municipalities with full performance of the institutionalized resources. Clear responsibilities, sustainable and safe cities resilient to the climate crisis and cities with a social policy cities.
For his part, the mayor of Athens X. Doukas remarked that “A new road map is needed. With modern and safe cities, elimination of social problems (energy poverty, unemployed, homeless, etc.). He referred to the evolution of technology and its use by TA as he said “In the age of artificial intelligence we cannot use tools from the previous century”. He called on the Electoral Chamber to turn the page, creating a new administration that will strengthen the autonomy and independence of the Municipalities emphasizing “It is what we promised to the citizens, that is why they voted for us”.
With regard to the relationship between municipalities and the government, he identified it as an institutional interlocutor and refuted the insufficient, as he characterized, increases achieved “eg: the increase in central autonomous resources that does not even cover the costs of employees, but also the “arbitrary interventions” at the expense of the municipalities such as “municipal authorities on the eve of assuming their duties to be informed by the media that we have to pay 240 million euros for the waste fee, that legal entities of the municipalities, school committees, municipal water supply, sewerage companies, etc. are abolished ».
