Alexis Tsipras secured a new mandate as prime minister of Greece, following another clear election victory of his left-wing  SYRIZA party, with a 35.5 percent of the vote and a 7.5 point lead over its main challenger, the conservative New Democracy, in a general election that took place yesterday (September 20).

The elections were marked by an unprecedented low turnout of 55 per cent and eight parties will enter Parliament. The official results of the Parliamentary Elections, with a 99.53% of the vote counted, are as follows:

The leaders of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks confirmed yesterday that they will renew their alliance of around 155 out of the 300 seats in Parliament to form a coalition government. Thanking his supporters last night for a huge victory that gives him a mandate to "keep fighting inside and outside the country", Tsipras assured that his cabinet will be sworn in as soon as Tuesday, September 22. 

World’s first encrypted e-voting system DEMOS has been developed by the FINER research team, a group of postdoctoral and Ph.D. students based in Athens. The Demos digital ballot box is designed so that voters can verify that the vote cast does actually go to the intended candidate, decreasing the probability of election fraud.

E-voting systems have emerged as a powerful technology for the enhancement of procedures related to macro political objectives including local, regional, national elections and referendums.

The advantages of e-voting over traditional voting procedures include:
- the empowering of voters by allowing them to verify themselves, the election tally as well as their vote,
- an increase in participation of social groups that face considerable physical barriers to participation such as the handicapped and expatriate communities, 

- a significant increase in the efficiency of the preparation of the election as well as in the calculation of the final results, and finally, a significant decrease in the overall financial cost of the election and referendum procedures.

Don’t let postcards deceive you; Athens is undoubtedly a modern-day metropolis. Surrounding its wonderful ancient relics is a dense urban network of modern buildings, which, combined with the 10,500 buildings constructed between 1830 and the Second World War that currently survive in Athens, make up the city’s architectural legacy. 

As journalist Nicos Vatopoulos put it in 2007 "Athens could, under certain conditions, be placed as an art deco Mediterranean capital. There should however, initially be an attempt to better understand the 1930’s and recognize the value of an entire epoch that modernized the Greek urban landscape with works by prominent architects." 

Now, the Visitors Center at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) and MONUMENTA, a non-profit civil company for the protection of the natural and architectural heritage of Greece, present the photography exhibition "The most beautiful buildings are situated in Athens. A recording program of the period 1830-1940", which will run through September 30. 

The exhibition presents the results of the three year research conducted by MONUMENTA in collaboration with numerous volunteers and organizations from Athens. The photographs depict public and private buildings of various functions and diverse architectural styles, as well as the recording program’s history and aspects.

See also: Architecture in Athens & Architecture Tours in Athens

The Global Oil&Gas: Black Sea & Mediterranean Exhibition and Conference will take place in Athens (September 23-24). The conference, which is officially supported by the Greek Ministry of Reconstruction of Production, Environment and Energy, will focus on the latest hydrocarbons activity and developments in the Black Sea, East Med, Ionian and Aegean Seas and on how to overcome technical challenges for success.

More than 30 speakers and 11 countries represented through either NOCs or by Ministries have confirmed their participation.

European Sustainability Academy (ESA) will host the 3rd Annual Women Empowerment Conference at Chania, Crete (Sept.25-26).

This year’s summit celebrates the successful conclusion of the WISE (Women Innovators in Sustainable Enterprise) EU funded pilot program (2013 - 2015) and the launch of WISE 2 programme in Greece in  2016. The goal of the conference is to evolve into a platform on which business-boosting and innovation initiatives for both men and women entrepreneurs will be built and launched as to also attract business leaders, academics and promote sustainable tourism in Crete.