Petroupoli


Petroupoli is a suburb in the northwestern part of Athens Urban Area, in Greece. Petroupoli was part of the community of Nea Liosia until 1946, when it became a separate community. It was elevated to municipality status in 1972.

Geography

Petroupoli is situated in the eastern foothills of the Egaleo mountain, 7 km northwest of Athens city centre. The municipality has an area of 6.597 km2. Its main streets connect the town with Ilion and Peristeri.
regards Petroupoli as the most developed western suburb of the capital.

Culture and education

The Petra Festival takes place every summer. The area's junior football team is named Aris Petroupoli.
Petroupoli today incorporates a number of private and 15 public kindergartens, 12 primary schools, 6 public lower secondary schools, 5 public upper secondary schools and one public Technical Secondary School.

Mayors and elections

In this area there was once a great tradition of mayors supported by the Communist Party of Greece. For many years, the suburb's mayor was Nicolaos Paximadas, supported by the KKE. Following his retirement, another candidate endorsed by KKE, Giorgos Giogos, became mayor of the area for the eight years between 1994 and 2002. In 2002, candidate Stefanos Vlachos was elected, endorsed by both another left party, Synaspismos, and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. In 2006 elections, Vlachos was re-elected, earning more than 42% of the votes. In the 2010 elections, another communist mayor, Thomas Kotsambas was elected after the eight-year Vlachos era, making Petroupoli the only municipality in Greece that has a mayor supported by the Communist Party. In the 2014 elections the people of Petroupoli elected Vangelis Simos who has also the support of the Communist Party.

Historical population