November 20, 1977 Konstantinos Karamanlis is re-elected Prime Minister with 41.84% of the vote. PASOK becomes the official opposition. The municipality of Agia Varvara votes for the last time for the New Democracy. The last one, until May 21, 2023.

In 1977, the municipality of Agia Varvara, which then belonged to the 2nd constituency of Athens, gave New Democracy 32.26%. Nearly fifty years later, in the May 21 elections, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s New Democracy became the first party in Agia Varvara, one of the seven municipalities of the B2 constituency of the Western Sector of Athens, with almost the same percentage (32.03%), achieving an increase of 7.34 % compared to the 2019 elections. Four years ago, all seven municipalities of the western sector of Athens voted overwhelmingly for SYRIZA, with the lowest percentage received in the region at that time being 34.03% in the Municipality of Chaydariou. The highest percentage in the region SYRIZA collected in the municipality of Agia Varvara, where it received 43.56% of the vote. However, in the May 21 elections, the picture changed completely.

N.D. won all seven municipalities of the western sector of Athens. The fall in SYRIZA ranged from 14.88% to 19.18% compared to 2019, with the largest losses occurring in the municipality of St. Barbara.

Legacy… PASOK

“Here, SYRIZA had a very high percentage, because PASOK also had a very high percentage,” Lambros Michos, the mayor of Agia Varvara, told K. “People were brought up on the slogans of the Pasok era, and then moved to SYRIZA because it had an anti-right mentality – “the people do not forget what the Right is,” he emphasizes.

Lambros Mijos is a local personality whose popularity has outpaced his post as mayor for the past four years. Prior to his re-election in 2019, he was Mayor of Agia Varvara from 1995 to 2010. In the temple in the central square of the municipality, Kolokotroni Square or Agia Eleusa, a plaque reads: “The territory of the Holy Temple was built during the municipality of Lambros Mychos” and was erected in 2006. From 2009 to 2012 he was Member of Parliament for the 2nd District of Athens with PASOK. But in 2019, he ran for mayor as an independent candidate. Knowing well Agia Varvara, a municipality of about 27,000 people, Mr Mihos told K that local government played a role in the May 21 elections, which were so positive for New Democracy: “There were many financial protocols, social programs flourished , politics,” he says, “just as negatively as for SYRIZA. “SYRIZA was not created here either in self-government or in the trade union movement, and I don’t think that our region is an exception,” he says. “, emphasizing that the opposition expressed by local officials in SYRIZA earlier in the elections did not resonate with the world. He adds that SYRIZA created an atmosphere that “black days” are coming. Mr. Mihos, – this directs the world in a conservative direction.

Surprise for everyone

Despite all this, many residents of St. Barbara tell K that they were surprised by the victory of New Democracy. “No one expected this,” says Argyris Mamas outside his funeral home. “Like now, no one voted for him,” he added with a laugh, and explained that, in his opinion, there are many who voted for the New Democracy, but do not admit this in discussions.

“I’m impressed,” Stella, 70, says of the Agia Varvara election results, “but as we speak, SYRIZA is dead.” “I expected SYRIZA to do much better,” 46-year-old Maria Tomadaki emphasizes “K”, “we heard that the people do not support the New Democracy, I did not expect this from Agia Varvara.”

Anthony Patomadakos painting the railings of the closed pavilion. This is not his usual occupation, he says to “K”. “I have a workshop, I make children’s jewelry – but look what I have to do for a living,” he declares, pointing to his brush and half-painted railing. “It wasn’t just St. Barbara’s New Democracy that voted, all the poor neighborhoods voted – is that possible?” he asks rhetorically with disbelief.

“Benefits”

“I think that especially in Agia Varvara, where people are poor, the benefits had a strong impact, on the one hand, and on the other hand, they did not understand or could not transfer the SYRIZA program, which would relieve them. a lot,” he says, “Mr. Dimitris Vitsas. Until a few days ago, he was a member of parliament for SYRIZA in this constituency. But the results of the May 21 SYRIZA election left Mr. Vitsu out of parliament, at least for now. In district B2 of the Western sector of Athens, SYRIZA took three places, Mr. Vitsas came fourth in terms of the number of votes.

“Here, SYRIZA had very high interest rates, because PASOK had very high interest rates in the past,” says L. Mihos “K”.

According to him, the inhabitants of the region voted for the New Democracy mainly for propaganda reasons. “The propaganda of Mitsotakis and New Democracy on the economy basically convinced them. People have not become richer,” he says, emphasizing that SYRIZA shares fell by 16-17% in the western sector. “It was a bad result,” he says to K, who surprised him. “We’re looking,” he adds, “in this election to change that.”

Unlike Mr. Wits, Michalis Chrysochoidis, who was elected first in the cross polls in Athens West, tells K that he expected New Democracy to come out first in the area. “I did not expect that we would have such a difference, but I expected that we would be the first party,” he emphasizes, emphasizing that the specific result of the elections allows one to draw a conclusion about politics in general. “For the potential that politics has,” notes Mr. Chrysochoidis, “to be able to influence the real life of people and improve it, and their feelings, so that in 50 years there will be upheavals, almost tectonic.”

The election campaign he led last year brought him into contact with thousands of people – “many came from PASOK or SYRIZA,” says Mr Chrysochoidis. The citizens he met supported the policy of the government and Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “I didn’t hear any complaints anywhere, I didn’t hear any protest anywhere,” he adds, while for numerous small entrepreneurs in the region “no change in economic stability, they had experienced in recent years seemed unthinkable,” he says.

At the same time, other factors contributed to the adoption of New Democracy, such as “social work provided by various aspects of the welfare state, support for households and businesses during multiple crises, in particular with the reduction of ENFIA,” says Mr Chrysochoidis, but and the fact that SYRIZA was not in the region “I was looking for representatives of SYRIZA and the event, but they were nowhere to be found,” he notes.

“There was nothing else”

This image is also expressed by Nikos Polikandriotis, owner of a cafe in Agia Varvara. “It sounded like there was nothing but the Right, it didn’t sound like anything else,” he tells K.

“I expected this because I communicate with people. He was ready to vote for New Democracy because they were given benefits, the businessmen voted for them because they were given money, and because Alexis Tsipras said he would form a government of losers and said nothing about security,” Georgios Ziakos said. the owner of the cafe, – says “K” of the district. While he is talking to “K”, the shop visitor gets up from his chair and leaves. “I have different political and religious beliefs,” he emphasizes.

Panagiotis Kyriakou, 30, believes that many Roma in the area supported New Democracy in the May elections. “This year we had ours from St. Barbara, who came with the New Democracy, and other parties did not,” he emphasizes, explaining that many members of the community voted for those they knew without necessarily studying the party program.

“We believe in the homeland-religion-family, which is mainly represented by the right, but the state apparatus does not respect us,” says Mr. Kiriakov’s friend, 30-year-old Konstantinos. He adds that most members of the community felt that the other candidates did not have the experience of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “This is what we collected,” he tells K.

Other residents of the area who talk to “K” emphasize that they don’t really care about politics, they don’t feel that something is changing, and they don’t discuss it with each other – elections, voting, options. “Whether one or the other comes out is the same thing,” Christina, 30, who works in the shop next door, tells K, with a royal pound sterling around her neck. “We want Paul,” he says, laughing.

Eleni, her colleague, says she was impressed by New Democracy’s electoral victory in the municipality of Agia Varvara and in the rest of the western sector of Athens, but emphasizes that she is not herself and political discussions in general do not take place. “We don’t care anymore,” he says to K, “we care about more important things than what everyone voted for.”

A little later than 19 hours, the central square of St. Barbara is very crowded. Residents and visitors move along the eternal escalators of the metro, which opened in the summer of 2020 and which Mayor Lambros Mijos is very proud of. Father plays football with his son. The old men filled the corner cafe. Women leave the Holy Church of St. Barbara. “I don’t trust anyone,” Artemis, who comes to the temple every Tuesday, tells K, adding that her vote changes from election to election. “Only,” he emphasizes, “saints.”

Municipality of Agia Varvara

32.03% N.D. 24.38% SYRIZA