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Agence France-Presse

Greece’s conservative opposition New Democracy party on Sunday swept local elections, winning in most regions and the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki, routing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ ruling left just a month before they face off in general elections.
New Democracy candidates have won 11 of the country’s 13 regions, according to provisional results, including Attica where the Greek capital is located.

ND mayoral candidate Costas Bakoyannis was leading in Athens with 65 per cent of the vote, according to provisional results after counting in half of the city’s polling centres.
The 41-year-old comes from an old political family and his mother Dora was elected Athens mayor in 2003.
“Greece’s electoral map has changed in favour of the ND,” said political expert Ilias Nikolakopoulos on public television ERT.
The New Democracy party has repeated its performance in last month’s European elections when it took 33 per cent of the vote – nine points more than the ruling Syriza party.
Tsipras, a socialist who has overseen austerity measures since the Greek debt crisis, has called parliamentary elections for July 7, three months earlier than scheduled.
Sunday’s vote was a second-round run-off for city mayors and regional governors.

In the first round of municipal and regional elections in May, New Democracy won five of Greece’s 13 regions, while the left took just one.
“Hope has returned, it is revenge … against the populism of Tsipras,” the opposition-leaning daily To Vima wrote in a front-page headline.
Tsipras had urged voters to choose the “mayors of progress”, calling Sunday’s vote crucial in a statement to reporters after voting in Kypseli, a working-class neighbourhood of Athens.
Bakoyannis, a former provincial governor, captured the Athens mayor’s office from the left. He won 42 per cent of the votes in the first round, beating his rival leftist Nassos Iliopoulos by more than 25 points.
“Today Athens is not simply changing mayors, the city is changing an era,” Bakoyannis predicted after voting on Sunday afternoon.
For the Attica province, which includes the capital, conservative Yiorgos Patoulis, a former mayor, is also poised to win. In the first round he won 37.6 per cent of the vote against his Syriza rival Rena Dourou with 19.7 per cent.
In the Thessaloniki region, conservative Apostolos Tzitzikostas already won in the first round by taking 62 per cent of the vote.

Observers attribute the conservative resurgence in part to a controversial renaming deal between Greece and its neighbour which is now called North Macedonia, formerly Macedonia.
Backed by Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev, the deal ended a long-running dispute between the two countries.
The dispute dated back to North Macedonia’s independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, when it declared that it wanted to be called Macedonia over the objections of Greece, which has a northern province by the same name.
The resolution of the deal meant Athens dropped its opposition to its neighbour’s bid to join the European Union, but the agreement has been denounced by nationalists in both countries.


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European Union

Alexis Tsipras’ ruling left under threat as conservatives sweep Greek local elections

Kostas Bakoyannis the winner of the mayoral race in Athens speaks to supporters after his election victory. Photo: AP Photo

Main opposition New Democracy conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis exits the polling booth before voting for the second round of local elections in Athens, Greece June 2, 2019. REUTERS/Constantina Peppa     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras exits the polling booth before voting for the second round of local elections in Athens, Greece June 2, 2019. REUTERS/Costas Baltas

Main opposition New Democracy conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes statements after voting for the second round of local elections in Athens, Greece June 2, 2019. REUTERS/Constantina Peppa

Main UK parties take  battering in England’s local elections as voters express frustration over Brexit deadlock

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after casting her vote at a polling station near her home in Thames Valley, England. Photo: PA via AP

Counting of ballots begins in the Northern Ireland local elections as at Coleraine Leisure centre in County Londonderry, Friday May 3, 2019. Elections were held Thursday for more than 8,000 seats on 259 local authorities across England — although not in London — and Northern Ireland. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, center, arrives Friday May 3, 2019 to celebrate the election result for Trafford Council with Labour Party activists at the Waterside Arts Centre, Manchester, England, following the voting in Thursday's English council elections. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Exit poll: Polish populists make some gains in local votes with Rafal Trzaskowski set to become Warsaw mayor

Warsaw city mayor candidate from the main opposition party Civic Platform, Rafal Trzaskowski speaks to supporters after first exit polls indicating him as the winner are announced in Warsaw. Photo: AP Photo

Warsaw city mayor candidate from the main opposition party Civic Platform, Rafal Trzaskowski, right, applauds, as party leader Grzegorz Schetyna speaks to supporters after first exit polls indicating are announced in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party, whose policies have drawn massive street protests and repeated clashes with its European Union partners, faces a major test of support in Sunday's local elections, the first in a string of votes that can strengthen or chip its firm grip on power. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Opposition supporters react as first exit polls are announced in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party, whose policies have drawn massive street protests and repeated clashes with its European Union partners, faces a major test of support in Sunday's local elections, the first in a string of votes that can strengthen or chip its firm grip on power. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Patrick Jaki, center, speaks to supporters as first exit polls are announced in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party, whose policies have drawn massive street protests and repeated clashes with its European Union partners, faces a major test of support in Sunday's local elections, the first in a string of votes that can strengthen or chip its firm grip on power. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

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Conservative opposition New Democracy party candidates look likely to have won 11 of the country’s 13 regions


Conservative opposition New Democracy party candidates look likely to have won 11 of the country’s 13 regions.


Brexit

Greece

Alexis Tsipras’ ruling left under threat as conservatives sweep Greek local elections

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Conservative opposition New Democracy party candidates look likely to have won 11 of the country’s 13 regions

Conservative opposition New Democracy party candidates look likely to have won 11 of the country’s 13 regions