Main parties plan strategy, alliances as new polls loom

People read newspaper headlines featuring the results of the first round of local elections, in central Athens, on Monday.

With a second round of local authority elections looming on Sunday, when Greeks will also vote in a European Parliament ballot, political parties started discussing strategy and alliances on Monday, with conservative New Democracy and leftist SYRIZA expected to clash vehemently in the coming days ahead of what are expected to be tense runoffs.

ND threw its support behind the incumbents for Athens mayor and Attica regional governor after both of its candidates were knocked out in the first round. Giorgos Kaminis, an independent backed by PASOK and Democratic Left, is to face SYRIZA’s Gavriil Sakellaridis in the runoff, while the experienced Attica Governor Yiannis Sgouros, a Socialist, is to go up against the leftists’ Rena Dourou, who beat him in the first round. ND cadres expressed doubts about the likely effectiveness of the conservatives’ strategy as there have been tense exchanges between ND’s official candidates and the incumbents.

ND, whose candidates performed well in the provinces despite a poor showing in the Athens region, is also believed to be hoping for the support of center-left voters for conservative candidates who face SYRIZA challengers in key regions such as the Peloponnese and the Ionian islands. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos indirectly expressed his party’s backing for ND candidates up against SYRIZA contenders on Monday by praising ND’s support for Kaminis and Sgouros as a reaction to “the political offensive of Tsipras and SYRIZA.”

In the conservative camp, officials spent most of the day discussing tactics and alliances, with sources telling Kathimerini that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is...