Migrant crisis on Greek islands eclipses election

All through the summer and now into the autumn, thousands of refugees and migrants have been arriving on the small tourist island of Leros in the eastern Aegean close to Turkey. The large numbers have sparked such a profound crisis that the local mayor threatened this week to stop voters taking part in Sunday's general election unless he received more help from the government in Athens.

   At the peak in August and early September, up to 1,500 Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were arriving every day, according to local officials. The total population of Leros is just 8,500.

   It was at that time that left-wing Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras resigned as prime minister and a caretaker administration took over. Squalid makeshift camps have been set up to accommodate the new arrivals on the island. Earlier this week several hotels were commandeered to look after survivors from a boat which sank nearby, killing at least 34 people.

For the people of Leros and many of the other Dodecanese islands lying close to Turkey, the refugee and migrant crisis has not only become the top election issue - it is eclipsing everything.

   "Right now it's the only thing on our minds," says the deputy mayor of Leros, Yiannis Konstantinides. "We haven't even realised that this Sunday we have elections. We're all preoccupied with this problem and nothing else." The mayor's threat to boycott the election on Leros prompted officials in Athens to provide the island with some help.

   The caretaker government has now sent extra ships to the island to transport many of the refugees and migrants to the capital. "The present government, even though it's temporary, shows a much greater interest than the previous government and is much more attentive to us," says deputy mayor Yiannis Konstantinides. "We'd been trying to get the previous government to act for three months, but they would not listen."

   The business community on Leros has also been voicing concerns about the influx of migrants and the need for any new government emerging from Sunday's election to focus immediately on finding an overall solution. This region, like much of Greece, depends on tourism and there are fears that if the local authorities continue to be overwhelmed by the arrival of migrants, it will undermine the industry.

   "Already now, big tour operators are pushing us to keep our prices very low," says Eva Gkeka, who owns hotels on Leros and the island of Lipsi. "We are at the beginning of the (migrant) crisis and we don't know what will happen next year in the Mediterranean." "We have to do something, reservations are going to go down."

Πηγή: bbc.com