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| Historical Background |
Municipality of Volos was established by Royal Decree on 31/03/1883. Until 1954 it was called Municipality of Pagases. The first elected municipal authorities came into office on 06/1883. During the transitional period it took Volos to become part of the Greek state (02/11/1883), up until the first municipal elections, the same authorities were in charge since 1878, under the leadership of George Kartalis, the first elected Mayor of Volos, since the city"s official inauguration.
The first meeting of the elected body took place on 17/03/1882, and the opening decree referred to the establishment of indirect municipal taxation. According to the PM/1882 act, following the 27/12/1833 law concerning the attachment of new municipalities to the Greek state, the Municipality of Pagases was initially placed to the "2nd grade" Greek municipalities, according to registered population numbers (namely, above 2000 people). The presiding member and the decision-making authority of the new municipality was the Mayor, while the municipal council was comprised of 12 members, with advisory role. The municipal body was elected every four years, on the basis of the majority of the votes of the electorate. The municipal council also elected two vice-presidents, who were non-pay aides of the Mayor.
By 1891, the Municipality of Pagases was incorporated to the 1st grade municipalities, as its population grew above 10000 people, resulting to a number growth in the municipal council, with 18 members and four vice-presidents.
By 1912 the population had grown to over 30000 people, and the number of members of the council rose to 24. Secret voting was taking place to determine the election of the President, the Vice-president, the Secretary and the 5-member municipal committee.
From 1883 until 1933, the year of the last municipal elections of the pre-war era, the municipal archons were elected every four years. The only two exceptions were during the Balkan wars, when the presidency was extended for three more years until 1914, and also between 1917-1920, when the municipality was governed by an "executive committee", carrying however the peoples" acceptance, under the re-elected since 1914, Mayor Constantine Glavanis. Since the last elected council of 1933, until the end of the German occupation and the liberation of the city on October 1944, a ruling body under Ioannis Metaxas totalitarian regime governed the borough.
Conclusively, up until WW2, eleven elected bodies and three non-elected undertook the Municipality"s administration. Apart from George Kartalis" mayoralty during 1883-1891 and that of Nicolas Georgiades during 1899-1907, whom were both elected for two consecutive terms, as well as Constantine Glavanis, who governed for 17 years, from 1908 to 1925, every other Mayor stayed in power for a four-year period each.
Just before WW2, Metaxas" government of Greece appointed its own municipal ruling authorities and postponed the elections indefinitely, enforcing the 15/06/1937 law. In the Municipality of Pagases, such ruling body was the 7-membered governing council under Nicolas Saratsis, who took office in July 1938. Saratsis was replaced few months before the liberation.
During the transitional period of the first few months after the liberation, from October 1944 to February 1945, the administration of the Municipality was given to representatives of the city"s organizations, under John Kontaratos.
From 1946 until the first post-WW2 elections, Zisis Zisakis was the appointed Mayor by the government. With Royal Decree of March 1947, the refugee settlement of Nea Ionia, which was established in 1924 from Greeks who flew Turkey during the 1922 Asia Minor Massacre, became the second Municipality of the broader urban area.
The fate of the municipal elections of the post-war era followed the unstable political climate of the time. Until 1967 the elected Mayors were: George Kontostanos (1951/6- 1955/2), George Kartalis (1955/2-1956/1), Theodore Clapsopoulos (1956/4-1959/5 and 1964/8-1967/8), and John Kontaratos (1959/5-1964/8).
In 1954, the Municipality of Pagases is renamed Municipality of Volos.
The first elected Mayor of the political changeover was Theodore Clapsopoulos, who took office in June 1975. Since then, there were Michael Kountouris (1978-1990 and 1998-2000), Dimitris Pitsioris (1990-1998), Kyriakos Mitrou (2000-2006) and Alekos Voulgaris from 2007 until today.
MAYORS OF VOLOS (AND OF PAGASES UNTIL 1954)
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