The following is a press release from the «All Together» political group»
Kythira, Wednesday, September 27, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
«ALL TOGETHER, KYTHERA - ANTI-KYTHERA»
Reply in the outgoing mayor's political faction regarding the attack on Mr. Chrysafitis
In light of the attack he faced from the political faction of the outgoing mayor, Mr. Charhalakis, our faction’s candidate for city council, Mr. Nikos Chrysafitis, we feel compelled to take a stand and address certain issues.
We all realize that as the moment of truth—Election Sunday—draws nearer, the panic and nervousness of Mr. Charhalakis and his cronies will become increasingly apparent.
-In his speech at the opening of his campaign headquarters, he lashed out at «the well-known power centers that are already deciding the island’s future»…
-In an interview with ADELIN radio, he lashed out at those who question his projects (he didn’t like our faction’s revelation that he is implementing only 10% of his budget)…
-In the same interview, he told it like it is. He argued that while the population of Kythira had indeed decreased by 10%, the population is declining at a similar rate on all the islands. Unfortunately for him, the truth is that in the South Aegean region (the Cyclades and the Dodecanese), it increased by 6.1%…
-Now he is taking issue with Mr. Chrysafitis because of some of his absences (for professional reasons) from City Council meetings, stating emphatically that «all elected officials must be diligent in fulfilling their duties and obligations.» He seems to forget, however, that under his predecessors, City Council meetings were held in the afternoon and evening, precisely to accommodate working municipal council members. He is the one who changed the meeting times specifically to create problems for those council members who were working.
So let’s remind him that he is the one who completely undermined the City Council meetings:
-“He was absent from countless meetings (the mayor was absent, not a minority council member)…”
-He turned the meetings into mere rubber-stamping of pre-decided issues.
-It used the pandemic as a pretext to eliminate in-person meetings and replace them with lackluster online meetings (as the entire opposition has repeatedly denounced).
-With arrogance and conceit, he would not accept any opinion different from his own.
-He turned the municipal majority into a «clique» of ’bigwigs,” while removing his own deputy mayor from his party’s candidate lists at the request of another deputy mayor…
Mr. Mayor and members of your party, yes, most of us work; we have jobs that allow us to make a living and support our families. Our survival does not depend on the public purse like «others» who are unemployed…
Yes, people are disappointed with the way the City Council operates, but you are the ones who have turned it into a body that merely rubber-stamps the mayor’s decisions.
That is why we stand with Zacharias Souris, and «All Together» we are moving forward for change. We will no longer tolerate being taken for fools—we want democracy and transparency!
As for the care of stray animals, it’s obvious that you haven’t quite grasped something. We rural residents, Mr. Charchalakis, live alongside both stray and domestic animals. We care for and love them because that’s what our parents taught us, and that’s what we do together with our friends—without posting about it on Facebook…
It is understandable that Mr. Charhalakis has nothing to counter our well-documented proposals and is resorting to «character assassination.» Unfortunately for him, Kythira is a small place and we all know each other. We’ll still be here the day after the election, and we’ll all be working together. We do wonder, however, what «certain people» will do if, the day after the election, they’ve lost their little positions»…
