Greek ruling party survives mid-term test in local elections
With the count from Sunday's vote nearly complete in all regions, the New Democracy party secured control of 26 out of 54 prefectures, just under their current level of 30 districts.
They also maintained their 20-year hold on the Greek capital, where former health minister Nikitas Kaklamanis won election from the first round with 46.1 percent of the vote.
However the opposition socialists were celebrating after winning the main port of Piraeus, which the conservatives had controlled for the past eight years.
Analysts noted that the conservatives were helped by a recent change in the electoral law, which lowered the minimum percentage required for a first-round victory from 50 percent to 42.
"The law did not permit the centre-left to rally in the second round, which it usually does," argued political analyst George Sefertzis.
The setting was unchanged in the key prefectures of Athens-Piraeus and Salonika, which were respectively secured by the incumbent socialist and conservative candidates.
Pasok's Fotini 'Fofi' Gennimata garnered 43.41 percent of the vote, while New Democracy's Panayiotis Psomiadis finished with 48.2 percent.
A runoff will decide the victor in Salonika, Greece's second largest city, after incumbent conservative mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos got 41.43 percent, just under the required threshold.
Seven prefectures are also up for grabs in the second round, to be held on October 22.
Coming at a time of discontent over education policies and a failure to stamp out corruption, the vote result was a psychological boost to Karamanlis's administration, Sefertzis said.
In a televised address on Sunday, the PM said he would stand firm on his government's economic blueprint, which has brought the government into a collision course with labor unions.
"Today's elections dictate to the government that it continue to pursue its strategy, and this is the course we will follow until the 2008 (national) elections," the prime minister said.