Galato Alexandraki

Galato "Toula" Alexandraki (Greek: Γαλάτω Αλεξανδράκη; born 1948) is a Greek retired livestock farm worker, who will become a member of the European Parliament for the Greek Solution party.[1]

Galato Alexandraki was born and raised in Koufovouno, Evros, where she lived until the 1990s as a livestock farmer. Later, she moved to Alexandroupolis and opened a butcher's shop, which she maintains with her son until today. The butcher did not run any election campaign but nevertheless, she managed to win 51,237 votes and came second on the Hellenic Solution ballot paper.[2]

The party's President, Kyriakos Velopoulos, claimed that he included Mrs Alexandraki on the ballot paper at the request of the farmers of the area.[3] However, it soon became known that she was a candidate in the 2019 elections again with the Hellenic Solution party in the prefecture of East Attica, an area with which she has no connection. And there, she came second, with 2,151 votes, behind the MP who was eventually elected.[4] The party President's entourage has let it leak that her success is due to the fact that her surname, starting from the first letter of the Greek alphabet, is first on the ballot paper. Others claim that it is more likely to be due to "methods of Velopoulos and his close core of associates" [3]

Her election was a great surprise, as until then she was completely unknown not only in the prefecture of Evros, where she ran, but also in Alexandroupolis, the city where she lives and works. [5] [3]

Alexandraki along with Fredi Beleri and Afroditi Latinopoulou was listed by POLITICO among the most kookiest new MEPs in the European Parliament. [6]