Greece's second largest city, and 10 of the other 13 municipalities comprising the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area, will hold a "referendum" on whether to privatize the Thessaloniki Water Authority (EYATH) on Sunday, despite a government warning that it considers the vote to be illegal.
The first round of elections for municipal and provincial councils takes place Sunday.
The municipalities and the head of the northern Greek province of Central Macedonia, a member of the ruling conservatives, oppose the sale of the water authority, which the government is committed to, as part of the fiscal reform program agreed upon with Greece's creditors, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Interior Minister Yiannis Michelakis, in a circular, has warned the mayors that they could not set up polling booths inside the regular polling stations to hold their referendum. A Thessaloniki prosecutor has also warned that using the official election rolls in the "referendum" is a crime punishable with prison.
The official response has angered the mayors, who have vowed to go ahead with the referendum anyway..
"We had informed the government six months ago (of the referendum) and we expected a response sanctioning it .. .the referendum will go ahead, whether they like it or not," Simos Daniilidis, mayor of the Thessaloniki suburb of Neapolis-Sykees and head of the Union of Thessaloniki County Municipalities, told the Associated Press.
Daniilidis added that the mayors will set up polling booths on the sidewalks outside polling stations and use resident registers supplied by the municipalities.
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