Their first battle local elections ended last Sunday. The second is completed in a few hours and then (after the rapid political developments) comes the turn of the "mother of battles": Of national elections. For some, however, what is left of the whole process is the battle of the cross. These are the 69.821 candidates for municipal councilors who "came down" with the combinations throughout the country.
There were so many that it became a joke and insulted. Social media caught fire! "Become a municipal councilor yourself. You can "or" Whatever stone you pick up, you will find a candidate for municipal councilor below "or" Hello. I am the lame Maria, I am also a candidate for municipal councilor "or" I opened the closet and a candidate for municipal councilor was thrown out "are just some of what was written all the previous days.
But why nominate a councilor? For the money; For the glory? For the "convenience"? Of real interest and willingness to participate in the public? Because… saw light and entered? Whatever the reason, the issue is that for most (whether they were finally elected or not) it was a arduous but extremely beautiful journey into the world of politics. Even on its fringes!
For money or fame?
Here the answer is rather easy: For fame and recognition. The money a councilor earns is minimal to. Negligible. In fact, they do not even have a salary. What they receive is a mini allowance per meeting of the participating municipal council and which can not exceed 42 euros, while they have a ceiling and can take part in a maximum of four meetings. So in the best case for them, they can "clean up" up to 162 euros a month.
These in terms of. Revenue. But what about the costs? Here things are changing. Her expenses election campaign of a candidate for councilor is much more. To be precise, it is disproportionately large in relation to meager incomes.
First let's talk about… legal. The legal expenses that according to the law could be incurred by a candidate for municipal councilor during the pre-election period were: a) in constituencies with a population of up to 30.000 inhabitants up to 1.500 euros, b) in constituencies with a population of 30.001 to 60.000 inhabitants up to 2.000 euros, c) in constituencies with a population of 60.001 to 100.000 inhabitants up to 2.500 euros, d) in constituencies with a population of 100.001 to 150.000 inhabitants up to 3.000 euros, e) in constituencies with a population of 150.001 to 200.000 inhabitants up to 3.500 euros, f) in constituencies With a population of over 200.000 inhabitants and for every 100.000 inhabitants over 200.000, the maximum allowable electoral cost for each candidate is increased by 1.000 euros.
And where is this money spent? Cards. Brochures. Gatherings in local taverns or cafes for the classic "to know us better" that the unforgettable Chronis Xarchakos used to say. These are just some of the goal setting shareware that you can use. If he is a fanatic, however, he will network with the local media for paid listings (often in the form of interviews) or scan the social media where he will sponsor posts or send thousands of personal messages to messenger, viber, mobile etc, etc (he has the option to buy them in the hundreds and send them in bulk) he will even make commercials having hired a professional cameraman. And because we live in the age of information and image, it is most likely that if a candidate does not do that, he will be left without a seat in the next municipal council.
We must also add personal time to the mathematical equation. Again, however, here, it depends on how passionate the candidate is. There are those who devoted 2-3 hours a day but there were also those who in the "eruption" of the election campaign wasted even their summer leave to be absent from work, so that they run left and right as many hours as possible. There were candidates for municipal councilors in large municipalities of the country who slept in the pre-election centers of their combinations so as not to waste any time!
The tribes of the municipal council candidates
All this time, if you were not locked in a cave, then most likely you met some candidates for municipal councilors. Regardless of the personality of each one, they all belonged to one of the following… races!
The party pipe: They usually have little to no contact with the local community. However, they have a lot of contact with the party and they should be comfortable somewhere. "They are our children", after all. They belong to the category of political professionals although they do not have great parchments. They are the ones behind the mayoral candidate in almost every photo or every TV shot. They will hardly win the battle of the cross.
Celebrities: In this category, especially in these municipal elections, we had a large number of candidates. Singers. Actors. Even former players of a reality show enter the ballots with the air of the surname although the contact they had so far with politics may have been completely superficial or even non-existent. Also extremely difficult not to get elected.
The apolitical: They are usually the ones who are invited to run to close it ballot. They do not have the slightest contact with politics or the needs of the local community, they just knew an acquaintance, the acquaintance, who had an acquaintance next to the mayoral candidate and somehow they entered the list of candidates. They are the ones who will not waste a lot of money, the ones who will not waste personal time and generally those who will not be elected and then throw the blame on the political circles.
Local: brands: This breed is extremely special. The local brands are based on exactly what they are: famous in their place, because they happened to be children, grandchildren, nieces or whatever, of some well-known and usually great person in the area. It is not excluded, in fact, if you read their CV in the leaflets they share to see it there: "grandson of tade", "proud son of a great father…" etc etc. Whether they will be elected, now, is a complex case. If there are many of the first two races on the ballot then they probably do not have much hope, although the truth is that they will fight it to the end. If they do not have much competition, then a place in the next city council is their trial.