Messenia

The Central Archaeological Council has approved a plan to improve the visitor experience at Ancient Messene in the southwest Peloponnese, one of the country's top archaeological sites.

The ruling party, New Democracy (ND), maintains its leading position despite a slight decrease to 29.5%, as revealed by a public poll conducted by SKAI TV and Pulse in the final week of February. Meanwhile, the main opposition party, leftist SYRIZA, and the social democratic party, PASOK, are tied for second place at 12%.

The first hotel unit in the Costa Navarino complex will this year open its doors even earlier than in previous years - i.e. on February 18 - followed by the other three units that TEMES has developed in Messinia, in the Peloponnese.

A former New Democracy prime minister has voted against a government amendment that would enable certain migrants to obtain a three-year residency and work permit.

In voting "no" to the amendment, Antonis Samaras sided with the extreme-right Hellenic Solution, far-right Spartans and religious-fundamentalist Niki parties.

The main opposition will focus on winning back some ground in the next electoral battle set for June 25, after the party suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday's general election, according to SYRIZA sources on Monday.

A new opinion poll puts ruling center-right New Democracy 6% ahead of left-wing Syriza in voting intentions.

Restrictive measures for the Regional Units of Messinia and Heraklion also extended until September 10

Veteran New Democracy MP (representing the district of Ioannina) Konstantinos Tasoulas has been elected Parliament Speaker with an unprecedented 283 votes in the 300-seat legislature.

Tasoulas was supported by five of the legislature's six parties (New Democracy, SYRIZA, Movement for Change, Elliniki Lysi, and MeRa 25).

Main opposition New Democracy leads SYRIZA by over seven percentage points in both the parliamentary (7.8 percent) and European Parliament (7.3percent) elections according to a Metron Analysis opinion poll conducted for Alpha television.

With local authority elections looming next May, both main parties are said to be seeking to broaden their appeal, reaching out to candidates from other parts of the political spectrum and public life.