2023-04-30 11:05:37
By Apostolos Iosifidis
The Decision of the Greek Statistical Authority 1., already published in the Government Gazette 2., announcing the results of the 2021 Census of the Permanent 3. Population 4. of the Country, by Municipality, Municipal Unit and Municipal Community , now crystallises the limits of the nominations in view of the self-governing elections next October, from which the municipal and regional authorities will emerge for the five-year period 2024-2028 5.
The possibility of increasing the number of municipal candidates by up to 150% on the number of seats 6., is a record increase in the annals of municipal elections, and dramatically expands both the opportunities to participate in the combinations under preparation and the choices of the voters.
In particular, for the Municipality of Veria (with a total permanent population of 62,655 inhabitants), a municipal combination, which will exhaust all the possibilities of submitting nominations, will consist, at most, of 307 fellow citizens [: 1 υποψήφιος Δήμαρχος + 89 υποψήφιοι Δημοτικοί Σύμβουλοι + 217 υποψήφιοι Σύμβουλοι Δημοτικών Κοινοτήτων με πληθυσμό μεγαλύτερο των 200 κατ. και Πρόεδροι Δημοτικών Κοινοτήτων με πληθυσμό έως 200 κατ.]while a combination, which will be sufficient to cover the minimum 7. permissible number of candidates, will consist of 71 fellow citizens [: 1 υποψήφιος Δήμαρχος + 35 υποψήφιοι Δημοτικοί Σύμβουλοι + 35 υποψήφιοι Σύμβουλοι Δημοτικών Κοινοτήτων με πληθυσμό μεγαλύτερο των 200 κατ. και Πρόεδροι Δημοτικών Κοινοτήτων με πληθυσμό έως 200 κατ.].
Thus, in the hypothetical case that all the so far announced (four) combinations were presented with the maximum number of candidates each, then the set of municipal candidates would “form” the fifth most populous “municipal community” of Veria 8., and would record candidate / population ratio enviable even by the measures of the ancient Athenian democracy (307 X 4 = 1,228 or 1 candidate for every 51 inhabitants!).
However, the (potential) abundance of municipal candidates in 2023 does not seem to cause the local population a greater surprise than the one caused by the corresponding (albeit 1/3 of today’s) increase in candidates that was established in the first municipal elections of our modern democracy: In the municipal elections of March 30, 1975, the number of candidate municipal councilors of each combination might be equal to the number of seats in the relevant municipal council “increased by half” 9. With the 50% increase, the 4 ballots 10., who, following a municipal electoral drought of 11 years 11., contested in 1975 for the Municipality of Veria, presented a total of 186 candidates for municipal councilors 12., who, naturally, all at the same time indulged in the cruelty of the crosses of preference of their fellow citizens (of which at least 11 voting age had no similar experiences from their municipal past).
The crowd and the crusade of candidates in 1975 did not leave indifferent the immovable and sharp, but always well-intentioned, pen of Orestis Sidiropoulos, who published in the “Furoros tis Imathia” of March 24, 1975, the following vignette, in which he and his neighbors-flatmates in the same apartment building.
Epidemic of candidates
Just think: Two hundred candidates for 12,000 voters! Which means that for every 60 voters there is also one candidate councilor!
Family entanglements are a natural consequence. First-siblings on a different ballot put relatives in a difficult position. And the case of father and son who entered into conflicting combinations is known.
Smiles and cordials take and give:
― Brother Santa, where have you been all this time?
― Here I was, my Aristides, but you did not see me.
– Will you vote for me Santa?
― A written request, my Aristides, and you will receive an answer on the 30th of the month.
In the settlement, a bunch of candidates struggle with the same pattern.
― Vote for me, so that our neighborhood also has a man who beats his fist on the table.
Bad table of the Municipal Council! I don’t see you getting the four years.
But are things simpler in the center?
Three candidates in each apartment building.
― Will you vote for me Mrs. Euthymia? 13.
― With both my hands, Mr. Christos 14.
These are said on the first floor. In the second new block:
― Mrs. Euthymia…
― I will vote for you Mr. Takis 15. Does he also want a discussion?
On the 5th floor the most lively candidate.
― Mrs. Euthymia, your vote for us to be beloved.
― Say you have it in your pocket, my 16. John.
I was frightened by the diplomacy of Mrs. Euthymia. I wanted to find out who he told the truth to anyway:
― Completely between us, I say to her, which of the three will you vote for?
– What do you say, Mr. Orestes! Should I vote for them? The moment you have a brother 17. candidate, do I waste my vote?
Long live Mrs. Euthymia! How come we didn’t send you to the U.N. to destroy all the diplomats of Yphilion.
Orestis Sidiropoulos
The Municipal Council (photo), which was elected on March 30 and took office on June 1, 1975 18. also holds a unique record: it is the first and only Municipal Council of Veria that combined (co-optation and opposition), together with the outgoing and the newly elected Mayor, captured his installation in a photograph, which was immortalized by the lens of the “Veroia” Newspaper (b. June 7, 1975). The compositions of the Municipal Councils of the following periods, despite the individual convergences (or even “collusions”), did not leave room for such common, full quorum, photographic appearances… Let us hope, perhaps, that the emerging, on the 8th of next October, Municipal Council will give us the repetition of a similar moment?
1. 2846/B4-461/21-04-2023.
2. Official Gazette B 2802/26-04-2023.
3. “Permanent population is the totality of people, regardless of citizenship and residence status, who have their usual residence, as defined in paragraph d’ of article 2 of Regulation 763/2008* of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 9 2008 (L 21), in every region within the Greek Territory” (article 3 para. 1 Law 4772/2021, Official Gazette A΄ 17), – *”… Only the persons who who: (i) have lived continuously at their place of habitual residence for a period of at least twelve months prior to the reference date, (ii) arrived at the place of habitual residence during the twelve months prior to the reference date with the intention of remaining there for at least one year… ».
4. “Where reference is made to the term “population”… it means the permanent population, as it appears in the official tables of the results of the last population census, which have been ratified and published in the Government Gazette” (article 87 § 3 section a’ n. 4804/2021, Official Gazette A’ 90).
5. “1.- Mayors, municipal councilors, councilors of municipal communities and presidents of municipal communities are elected every five (5) years by direct, universal and secret ballot. ….. 5.- For the first application of this, the election of municipal authorities is held on Sunday, October 8, 2023 and the establishment of the authorities of par. 1 takes place on January 1, 2024” (Article 5 §§ 1 and 5 of Law 4804 /2021).
6. “The minimum number of candidates that a combination must include is: (a) For municipal council candidates at least equal to the number of seats in each electoral district, with the possibility of an increase of up to one hundred and fifty percent (150%). A decimal number is rounded to the next whole unit, as long as the fraction is equal to half of the unit or more. (b) For the candidate presidents and councilors of each municipal community, at least equal to the number of seats in each municipal community, with the possibility of an increase of up to one hundred and fifty percent (150%). A decimal number is rounded to the next whole unit, as long as the fraction is equal to half of the unit or more. … » (Article 15 § 2 Law 4804/2021).
7. “Each combination includes the candidate mayor, the candidate municipal councilors, by electoral district, the candidate municipal councilors, by electoral district, the candidate councilors of municipal communities and the candidate presidents of municipal communities, by municipal community and for sixty percent (60%) at least of the municipal communities” (Article 15 § 1 Law 4804/2021, as amended by Article 59 Law 5027/2023, Official Gazette A΄ 48).
8. 1st: Municipal Community of Veria 43,212 inhabitants, 2nd: D.K. Makrohoriou 4.870 kat., 3rd: D.K. Agios Georgiou 1,474 sq., 4th: D.K. Homeland 1,328 kat., …and immediately following: D.K. Vergina 1,096 inhabitants, etc.
9. “Each combination includes a candidate mayor…and candidate councilors…in a number equal to at least the…number of seats, increased by half…” (Article 24 § 2 Law 8/1975, Official Gazette A’ 25).
10. In the Municipality of Veria in 1975, with 30,425 inhabitants (Census 1971), and 14,946 registered voters, the following combinations participated: “Progressive Democratic Union of Veria” led by Efthimios Tselepoglou (received 6,321 votes, and with 52.39% occupied 17 seats in the Municipal Council), “Veroia” led by Efstathios Panagiotidis (2,635 votes, and with 21.83% occupied 8 seats in the Municipal Council), “Combination Bizeta” led by Athanasios Bizeta (2,479 votes, 20.54%) , “Karatzoglou Combination” headed by Constantinos Karatzoglou (632 votes, 5.24%)• only the first two combinations participated in the distribution of seats in the Municipal Council: “1. For the election of the mayor and municipal councilors, a successful combination of the chances of the absolute majority of the number of valid ballots is understood, while the runner-up receives the majority following this combination of votes. …. 4. Of the legal number of municipal council seats, two-thirds belong to the successful combination, and the third to the runner-up” (Article 40 § 1 section a’ and § 3 section a’ Law 8 /1975).
11. The last, before 1975, municipal (and community) elections were held on July 5, 1964.
12. 49 the combination of Tselepoglou, 47 the combination of Panagiotidis, 49 the combination of Bizet, and 41 the combination of Karatzoglou.
13. This is probably regarding Efthymia Tousa, tenant of the same apartment building as the chronograph.
14. Occupant of the 1st floor is Christos Bandis, candidate for Municipal Councilor with the combination of Athanasios Bizetas (received 344 preference crosses).
15. Tenant of the 2nd floor, Dimitrios Symeonidis, candidate for Municipal Councilor with the combination of Athanasios Bizetas (received 66 preference crosses).
16. Tenant of the 5th floor, Ioannis Yfantidis, candidate for Municipal Councilor with the combination of Efthymios Tselepoglos (received 82 preference crosses).
17. It refers to Theodoros Sidiropoulos, a candidate for Municipal Councilor with the combination of Efstathios Panagiotidis (he was shown as the majority of his combination with 262 preference crosses and was elected Municipal Councillor).
18. Article only § 3 f.d. 104/1975 (Official Gazette A’ 30).
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