The impact of changes in Local GovernmentOrganizations (LGA) was outlined by Thodoris Livaniou, who defended the reform brought about by the new local government map.
The new electoral system is not intended to favor Candidate A or B, but to provide a real incentive for citizen participation and, consequently, strengthen the new local government authorities, emphasized Interior Minister, Thodoris Livaniou, during today’s session of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Administration, which began reviewing the bill titled “Local Government Code.”
As Mr. Livaniou noted, we had a system that gradually followed the general trend seen in national elections, not just from five-year term to five-year term, but from the first Sunday to the second Sunday. “Why? First, because you were forcing many people to go vote a second time, at the place where they vote. We are a country with a living tradition of non-resident voters. So, someone had to leave Athens to go all the way to Mouzaki to vote, come back, and do the same thing again the following Sunday. Second, because voter turnout varied across different regions of the country where a second round was held. Whether in the second round we had only municipal elections or only regional elections or both. Honestly, where there were only regional elections, turnout was very, very low. For example: There is a local authority where, on the first Sunday, in terms of absolute number of votes, the candidate who lost actually received more votes than the winner of the second round on the second Sunday! [. . .] Third, as our rapporteur, Mr. Kotsos, also said, when you have many dissatisfied voters, there is often a reversal of the vote between the first and second Sundays…»
Mr. Livaniou even noted that the main pillars of the Code, including the electoral system, were presented to KEDE and ENPE four years ago, “not four months before the elections…” So, therefore, “an electoral system is coming in good time, one that was presented much earlier, with a primary goal: not to give an advantage to candidate A, B, C, or D, because in electoral history, whoever devises such schemes usually falls into the trap they set. But for one reason: to truly motivate citizen participation and, consequently, the strengthening and legitimization of mayors should not come from a false 50% of 25% of the electorate, but with the highest possible turnout. And that is why, after examining many different systems, we adopted the one used in the United Kingdom and particularly in England, which is now being revived… [. . .] and which provides significantly greater legitimacy. Yes, I prefer that the debates take place before the election, that coalitions run together, rather than “let’s both run, and whoever makes it to the second round, one will support the other, and we’ll see what happens.” They should run together, with a common platform, subject themselves together to the judgment of the Greek people, and choose from among the three, four, five, or six coalitions the one that is best.”
Mr. Livaniou concluded his remarks by referring to the Local Development Levy: “Today we have two types of taxes: the Tax on Electrified Spaces and the Real Estate Tax. The Tax on Electrified Premises is the very definition of a levy today, because it is applied uniformly throughout the municipality’s territory, regardless of the property’s age and regardless of the zoning value. Accordingly, a 100-square-meter apartment in Kypseli that is 50 years old [. . .] pays exactly the same property tax as a newly built apartment of the same size in a newly constructed apartment building in Kolonaki. Horizontally. There is no distinction. A 100-square-meter farmhouse versus a 100-square-meter apartment in the nicest neighborhood of a municipality… It was absurd. What do we do? We combine these two. It was a tax on the same object, and we factor in the zone value, the age of the property, and its floor area. This, in the vast majority of cases, almost without exception, results in lower charges and greater fairness regarding the distribution of a tax, which is money that municipalities use to build more schools, to build infrastructure, and ultimately to be judged… [. . .] So, there are no new ENFIA taxes, no new “levies,” nothing. What there is, is the consolidation of two taxes into one, with a fairer, more humane, and objective approach, and with many more exemptions now…”
