US model runs for city hall seat
Athens mayoral candidate Christos Papoutsis said yesterday he had included American model, singer and athlete Yvette Jarvis, a naturalized Greek citizen who has lived in the country for over 20 years, on his municipal council list. The former European Union commissioner, who has also served as merchant marine minister for the ruling PASOK party, cited Jarvis’s experience in non-governmental organizations in the USA, working with families and young people, and her involvement with African-American organizations. In appointing Jarvis, the first non-white candidate for a municipal post in Greece, he said wanted to show his interest in the problems faced by the city’s large immigrant population. «I am from New York and am familiar with problems in big cities such as Athens,» said Jarvis, who has studied psychology and communications in Boston. Jarvis said she had been «very surprised» at Papoutsis’s proposal. However, she added that if Papoutsis had not been a candidate and had not asked her to join his team, she would have voted for his rival, Dora Bakoyianni, in October.