Pavlos Geroulanos

In Greece's local and regional elections which were carried out along with the EU vote, candidate Costas Bakoyannis, affiliated with main opposition New Democracy, led the mayoral race in Athens by a wide margin from the next candidate, Nasos Iliopoulos, affiliated with ruling SYRIZA.

Early results showed New Democracy-backed candidate Costas Bakoyannis leading the race for Athens mayor on Sunday.

With 6.1 percent of the votes counted, Bakoyannis was on top at 42.8 percent, leaving his leftist rival Nassos Iliopoulos some distance behind at 16.9 percent.

Costas Bakoyannis, the regional governor of Central Greece, plans to officially announce his candidacy for Athens mayor on Monday, November 5.

Bakoyannis, 40, is the nephew of conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.