Local government elections dominated by men
Just 19 women out of a total of 331 mayoral candidates have made it into the second round of elections for local government in Greece, with only eight likely to clinch the position after securing more than 50 percent of the vote last Sunday.
Ai-Strati incumbent Maria Kakali, 32, is the only candidate who is certain to make it through, as she ran unchallenged for mayor of the small northern Aegean island, garnering 100 percent of the vote.
On the island of Sifnos, Maria Nadali beat her opponents with an overwhelming 88.5 percent of the vote, while Tilos in the southeastern Aegean Maria Kamma-Aleiferi's 62.3 percent was enough to secure her position.
In Skydra in Pella, northern Greece, Katerina Ignatiadou looks poised to defeat Costas Karasarlidis with 58.9 percent against his 25 percent, as does Manolia Stefanaki on the southernmost Greek island of Gavdos, who beat another woman, Evangelia Kallinikou, in the first round with 50.3 against 28 percent.
Two women ran for mayor on the island of Folegandros, with Maria Bali-Tilla getting 69.4 percent in the first round.
According to the Interior Ministry, just 2 percent of the 128 women who ran for mayor have either won outright or passed into the second round.
