Greek conservatives of the ruling New Democracy party won seven out of 13 regions in the first round of regional and municipal elections on Sunday.
The regional elections came as a political test for the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who won a second term in office in this summer’s general elections.
Candidates for regional governors, as well as mayors in the 332 municipalities nationwide, needed to secure 43 percent of votes to win the seat outright, otherwise the 1st and 2nd runners will contest in a runoff on October 15.
Some 9.7 million Greek citizens aged above 17 were registered to vote.
In addition, 17,957 citizens of 26 EU member states, who are living in Greece and have registered for the elections, could also cast their ballot, according to the Interior Ministry.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hailed the results as an endorsement of his ruling New Democracy (ND) party.
“We have emphasised the political significance of the regional elections, and at least seven regions have already been decided in favour of the ND in the first round”, Mitsotakis said after initial results were announced.
According to initial results, the New Democracy’s Nikos Hardalias, a former minister, was elected governor of Attica, the Athens region.
And in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, supported by the ruling party, was re-elected to govern the Central Macedonia region for a third term, winning over 60 percent of the vote.
At a national general election in June, the New Democracy was returned to power with a landslide victory of 40.5 percent of the vote, 20 points higher than its main rival – the radical leftwing Syriza party.