The first reaction, albeit unofficial, by ruling SYRIZA party in the wake of its disappointing performance during Sunday's second round of municipal and regional government elections, with 12 out f the 13 peripheries, for instance, going to main opposition New Democracy.
The first reaction, albeit unofficial, by ruling SYRIZA party in the wake of its disappointing performance during Sunday's second round of municipal and regional government elections, with 12 out f the 13 peripheries, for instance, going to main opposition New Democracy.
Sources close to the hard leftist party pointed t the extremely low voter turnout (roughly 40 percent), with the "spin" being that "because of this fact, whatever political conclusions are very difficult to be derived."
A second point cited the SYRIZA side is the fact that its candidates for the municipality of Athens and the Attica regional government doubled their percentage of the vote in the second round - while ignoring the fact that the first two candidates in the first round faced off in the second, assuming that the top vote-getter does not exceed 50 percent + 1 of the tally.
More importantly, the primary message coming from the ruling party on Sunday evening is that "the major battle is the general election".
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras echoed the unnamed party sources later in the evening, visiting the headquarters of defeated incumbent Attica governor, Rena Dourou, telling awaiting reporters and television cameras that "... we'll unite our forces in order to wage the major battle, which are national elections."