Kaminis, Boutaris keep mayoral seats

Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis appeared to have held on to his seat in local authority elections after his leftist challenger conceded defeat, although the race for Attica governor remained too close to call late on Sunday night while a number of independents beat government-backed candidates in other key seats.

SYRIZA’s candidate for Athens mayor, Gavriil Sakellaridis, congratulated Kaminis late last night after early results, based on 20 percent of ballots, put Kaminis at 51.6 percent compared to 48.3 percent.

Meanwhile SYRIZA’s candidate for Attica governor, Rena Dourou, and government-backed incumbent Yiannis Sgouros were neck and neck late on Sunday with the latter on 50.2 percent and the former on 49.7 percent.

In several other key districts, candidates supported by the government conceded defeat after independent challengers scored a strong lead. In the country’s main port of Piraeus, conservative incumbent Vassilis Michaloliakos suffered a stinging defeat by his independent challenger Yiannis Moralis, the vice president of the local Olympiakos soccer team, who had garnered 55.7 percent of the vote by late on Sunday compared to his 44.3 percent.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris was on course for another term in the northern port city after clinching 58 percent of votes compared to 41.9 percent for his conservative challenger Stavros Kalafatis.

In the western port of Patra, the Communist Party’s candidate, Constantinos Peletidis, clinched the mayorship with 60.1 percent of the vote compared to 39.8 percent for his conservative-backed challenger Constantinos Christopoulos.