Local Elections Run-off

Following the second round of local elections yesterday, the ruling PASOK party won the majority of regional governorships (8 to 5).
In municipal elections and -despite a high abstention rate- there was a change of leadership in the three major cities.
In Athens, Giorgos Kaminis, the former Ombudsman, won the mayorship, with the support of Pasok, after defeating the incumbent New Democracy (ND) mayor, Nikitas Kaklamanis.
In Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, the independent Yiannis Boutaris, supported by Pasok, defeated ND-backed candidate Costas Gioulekas, while in Pireus, Vassilis Michaloliakos, supported by ND defeated Pasok candidate Yiannis Michas.
Commenting on the results, Prime Minister George Papandreou said that the citizens “rejected the sirens of destabilisation and gave the government a clear three years of work to enable it to continue the effort for the country’s salvation and recovery.”
The premier also called on all political parties to “assume responsibility” and work together with the aim of saving the country. Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Antonis Samaras said that “the second round confirmed the political conclusions of the first Sunday” and gave the opportunity to his party to emerge “renewed, strong and responsible.”
For more information: Ministry of Interior, Decentralization and E-Government: Regional & Municipal Elections 2010 Results (in Greek); Kathimerini Daily: Pasok gets regional upper hand; YouTube: PM’s nationwide televised press statement (in Greek)
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

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Immigrants vote in 2010 Municipal Elections

The much awaited immigrants’ participation in municipal elections is a fact, following a new legislative amendment passed by the government.
According to an interior ministry circular, all eligible immigrants can register untilAugust 31 2010– the previous deadline was June 30 – at their local municipality’s election office should they want to vote in the upcoming ballot on November 14. Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis stressed that “the participation of legally residing, long-term residents is a historic event.” 
About the procedure and the eligibility criteria: Ministry of the Interior (in Greek)
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

Giorgio De Chirico Art Centre in Volos

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) The Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre is located in the centre of the city of Volos, Greece’s third-largest port city, where the famous Italian painter was born in 1888.

The Art Centre, located on a pedestrian road next to the Municipal Conservatory, is housed in a new glass building that has been named after the Surrealist painter who was the founder of the “scuola metafisica” (metaphysical school) art movement.
The ground floor, mezzanine and second floors of the Art Centre, which was inaugurated in September 1990, house the Volos Municipal Art Collection.
The latter includes more than 400 paintings, sculptures, hagiographies, ceramics, mosaics and artistic photographs, as well as periodical exhibitions, and a small library.
The other two floors house the Alexander Damtsas Museum, a permanent exhibition of the Volos-born art aficionado’s collection comprising some 500 paintings and gravures by mostly Greek artists representing all the important art styles from the late 19th century to date.
Athens News Agency: The Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre, a cradle of culture in the heart of Volos

Modern Art at the Athens Municipal Centre

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   The City of Athens Cultural Organisation presents, for the first time in Greece, the exhibition, “From classical Modernism to Postmodernism,” featuring the most important pieces from Monsignore Otto Mauer’s collection in the Dom Museum in Vienna. Fifty masterpieces by 27 top artists of the 20th century will feature in this exhibition, including works by Picasso, Klimt, Kokoschka, Klee, Kandinsky, Chagall, Matisse, Braque and Schiele.

The exhibition runs until May 27.