The 2023 Cretan regional election took place on 8 October 2023, simultaneously with
the rest of Greece. The election was for all 45 elected seats of the Regional Council of
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
as well as the Regional Governor.
This was the fourth Cretan regional election and the incumbent Governor (
Stavros Arnaoutakis
Stavros Arnaoutakis (; born 25 May 1956) is a Greek politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) between 2004 and 2009. He also served as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament and De ...
,
PASOK
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...
) ran for a fourth consecutive term.
The ballot resulted in the election of Stavros Arnaoutakis, the incumbent Governor, as Regional Governor with 78% of the votes. The left-wing candidate, former
SYRIZA
The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...
MP
Spyros Danellis, came in second with 11 percent. The
KKE candidate, Alekos Marinakis, received 8 percent of the vote. The anticapitalist list failed to obtain 3% of the votes, thus losing its representation in the Council.
Electoral system
According to the new electoral system introduced by the
New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a type of democracy in Marxism, based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that w ...
government in 2021, the majority percentage is defined as greater than 43% plus one vote of all valid ballots, instead of 50% plus one vote. In particular, the election of the regional governor is ensured from the first round, with an election threshold of 43%. If the first list receives up to 60%, it elects 3/5 of the regional council seats, while for more than 60%, the seats of each list are distributed proportionally.
Results
Aftermath
As the "For Our Crete" list did obtain more than 43% of the votes in the first round, the second round did not take place. The new Regional Council members were sworn in on December 21, 2023. The ceremony took place in
St. Marc's Basilica in
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
. Shortly after, Stavros Arnaoutakis announced the members of his fourth regional cabinet. It consisted of 11 thematic Vice Regional Governors:
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!scope=col class="unsortable" , Portrait
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!scope=col class="unsortable" , Took office
!scope=col class="unsortable" , Left office
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, -
, 1
,
Regional Governor
,
,
Stavros Arnaoutakis
Stavros Arnaoutakis (; born 25 May 1956) is a Greek politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) between 2004 and 2009. He also served as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament and De ...
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 2
,
Vice Regional Governor for Climate Change and Sustainable Mobility
,
,
Ioannis Anastasakis
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 3
,
Vice Regional Governor for Entrepreneurship
,
,
Michael Vavmvoukas
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Rethymno
Rethymno (also Rethymnon; ) is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants (nearly 40,000 for the municipal unit). It is believed to have been built ...
, -
, 4
,
Vice Regional Governor for Social Policy and Solidarity
,
,
Stylianos Voryias
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 5
,
Vice Regional Governor for Tourism
,
,
Kyriakos Kotsoglou
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Chania
Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...
, -
, 6
,
Vice Regional Governor for Interconnection with Research and Academic Foundations
,
,
Georgios Matalliotakis
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 7
,
Vice Regional Governor for Culture and Equality
,
,
Georgia Milaki
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 8
,
Vice Regional Governor for Environment
,
,
Nikolaos Xylouris
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 9
,
Vice Regional Governor for Coordination and Support of the Technical Projects Directorate
,
,
Nikolaos Skoulas
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 10
,
Vice Regional Governor for Sports
,
,
Leonidas Terzis
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Lasithi
Lasithi () is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Thrypti in the ...
, -
, 11
,
Vice Regional Governor for Agriculture
,
,
Stavros Tzedakis
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: " ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, -
, 12
,
Vice Regional Governor for Civil Protection
,
,
Georgios Tsapakos
,
For our Crete
For our Crete (Greek: Για την Κρήτη μας) is a social-democratic regional political association in Crete, Crete, Greece, led by Stavros Arnaoutakis. It is the ''de facto'' Cretan grouping of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement. ...
, style="width:1px; background-color: {{party color, PASOK" ,
, 1 January 2024
, ''Incumbent''
,
Chania
Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...
References
Crete
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
Local elections in Greece
October 2023 in Greece