'IT COULD'VE BEEN A LANDSLIDE'
MAYOR-ELECT NIKOLAKAKIS REFLECTS ON 'QUALITY' VICTORY
By Lou Duro
       
  The phone rang repeatedly, and each time Yiorgos Nikolakakis picked it up and put it to his ear, a hush came over the crowd, as it inched closer to the desk. Moments later there were smiles . . . or frowns. Groans . . . or cheers. By the end of the night, there were more mood swings than 100 women going through menopause.
It was local election night and more than 40 people were crowded into the small campaign headquarters on the beach road in Kato Gouves as their candidate received reports from various polling places throughout the 14 villages of the Gouves Demos (township).
There was good news, and bad, as Mr. Nikolakakis, who remained undaunted through it all, tallied numbers on the cluttered papers in front of him. Up by 10 votes, down by 30.
And so it went far into the night, and early morning hours. By midnight, some of the crowd, dejected, began to leave, convinced their candidate had lost. But, by 3 am, when the smoke cleared and the last of the 4388 valid votes were counted, Mr. Nikolakakis, the 53-year-old soft-spoken university professor, had become the next mayor of Gouves in what many people describe as the closest election ever, winning by just 19 votes over closest opponent, Nikos Stavroulakis.
"Sure, it was close, but it was a quality victory," the mayor-elect said in an exclusive interview with The Ko-Go Khronicles a few days later. "The win was much more important because the style of the campaign was so different. Our party is independent – the people spoke, not the machinery. We worked hard and accomplished a lot in just two months."
Mr. Nikolakakis was referring to the fact that only 60 days prior to Election Day he was content in his position as a professor, and not even considering running for mayor – well, almost.
"Of course, like many people, politics was always an important subject of conversation as we sat over coffee," he said. "My friends agreed with my opinions and convinced me to run for mayor. It was a long shot, but thanks to the many hours of hard work by my supporters and my untiring campaign workers, we were victorious. I also want to thank the people for their votes of confidence."
Mr. Nikolakakis said he became so caught up in the campaign that he totally forgot to move his voting records from Heraklion back to his hometown of Gouves. Because of his position at the university, he had moved temporarily to the city so he wouldn't have to commute.
"I couldn't even vote for myself," he said. "Neither could my family. If I would have transferred our voting records back to Gouves, it could've been a landslide," he said jokingly.
Although there was a recount, and even applications to the courts, Mr. Nikolakakis' victory remained unchanged – he received 1,908 votes, or 43.48 percent And, his victory becomes even a more dramatic event when you consider he had never run for elected office before, never held public office, while both of his opponents – Mihalis Plevrakis and Nikos Stavroulakis – have years of political experience.
Mr. Plevrakis, who garnered just 591 votes, or 13.47 percent, had made a misty-eyed concession speech early on election night. "Don't despair," he told his supporters in the crowded campaign office in Gouves, "we made a moral victory. We'll be back to carry on with our vision."
Mr. Stavroulakis, who came within a heartbeat of victory with 1,889 votes, or 43.05 percent, was naturally disappointed. "It was so close you must think that perhaps one more campaign stop, one more meeting with the constituents, could have made a difference. However, we all worked extremely hard and I want to thank the voters that supported my platform, and all the volunteers who contributed their time and energy. I know the problems of this area and I will continue my efforts for best solving them."
Although losing their bids for mayor, both Mr. Plevrakis and Mr. Stavroulakis will fill important posts on the town council.
Meanwhile, mayor-elect Nikolakakis is not waiting for his official induction on January 1 to get things rolling. "There is much that must be done in advance," he said. "Most importantly, we must have the right staff for specific areas, such as education and urbanization, and for that I will seek out experts in the fields, hopefully from among my former colleagues at the University of Crete."
And, yes, he will also transfer his voting papers back to Gouves – perhaps his next election will truly be a "landslide."